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According to Dr Cheng Cho-ming, Acting Senior Scientific Officer and a member of the study group, back in the mid-1970s there were on average only about 180 hours each year of reduced visibility inside the harbour, but this figure reached 450 hours by the early 1990s, reflecting one-and-a-half-fold increase. The deteriorating trend has been particularly pronounced since the late 1980s.
Outside the harbour, a similar trend is also observed at the outlying island of Cheung Chau. There, the number of hours of reduced visibility has increased from around 130 per year in the mid-1970s to about 230 by early 1990s.
Dr Cheng remarked that reduced visibility is often associated with light winds blowing from the west in the harbour, and a stable atmosphere. Such situation occurs most frequently during the cool months, from January to April. However, reduced visibility is also observed in summer, typically ahead of typhoons approaching Hong Kong from the east when similar meteorological conditions occur.
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Parents visit the Royal Observatory
Parent members of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation (HSC) and representatives from the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) will tomorrow (Tuesday) visit the Royal Observatory Hong Kong.
The visit will provide parents with opportunities to learn about the hoisting of tropical cyclone signals and rainstorm warning.
They will also acquire a better understanding on issuing announcements on suspension of classes by the Education Department in inclement weather.
The visit is organised by the Working Group on Parents' Centre of the HSC. The centre aims at enhancing communication between parents and the department.
The chairman of the working group, Mrs Canny Lau, and some 30 members of the HSC and PTA will be received by the Acting Director of the Royal Observatory Hong Kong, Mr Lam Chiu-ying.
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