ENG-1952 — Page 230

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

Hong Kong is liable to be affected by typhoons from July to October, although they are sometimes experienced before and after this period. Spells of bad weather, heavy rain and strong winds normally occur several times in each summer owing to the passage of typhoons or tropical storms at varying distances from the Colony. A typhoon whose centre passes over or near Hong Kong may be accompanied by winds of hurricane force, resulting in widespread damage; sixteen such disasters have occurred in the last 67 years, one of the worst being on 2nd September, 1937 when the wind speed reached 145 knots in a gust, and 28 steamships were stranded in and around the harbour. Although the loss of life on such occa- sions is now minimized by an elaborate system of warnings, there are always a number of junks and small craft which fail to reach the typhoon shelters in time.

Temperatures were generally above normal during the first six months of 1952, May being particularly warm and sunny. In the second half of the year Midsummer was rather temperatures were normal. cloudier than usual, the three months July to Septem- ber showing a sunshine duration deficit of nearly 76 hours.

Accumulated total rainfall remained below average from the end of January to the beginning of April. It again fell considerably below normal throughout the summer except for a brief spell from late June to early July, but a record-breaking fall in September more than made good the deficit. Against a normal amount of 10.4 inches for the month, 33.3 inches fell in Septem- ber, 1952, breaking the previous record of 30.6 inches which had stood since 1906. September was also the

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