XN000022-1973-04-28 — Page 7

Saturday, April 28, 1973

A surge of the winter monsoon reached Hong Kong during the early

hours of March 15 and brought some light rain.

Temperatures fell to a minimum of 15.7°C around dawn as winds

freshoned from the north.

The relative humidity also fell during the next few days to a

mean of 61 per cent on March 18. Yellow fire warnings were issued on

March 18 and 19. A ridge of high pressure persisted and there were sunny

intervals on March 19 and 20.

On March 21, a weak cold front passed through Hong Kong. Although

there were a few light rain patches that evening, rapid improvement

occurred the following morning and mainly fine weather prevailed on March 22

and 23.

A trough of low pressure passed Hong Kong late on March 24. A

total of 11.6 mm of rainfall was recorded during the night.

However weather improved steadily and on March 26, it became fine

and dry with a mean relative humidity of 65 per cent. Yellow fire warnings

were issued on March 26 and 27.

Another warm and moist airstream from the southeast reached Hong

Kong late on March 27 and 28 and coastal fog on March 28 and 29.

As a ridge of high pressure over southeast China strengthened

during the last three days of the month, weather became fine and hot and

temperatures rose to a new record maximum of 30.1°C on March 31.

/A total