ENG-1956 — Page 322

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

when the weather is generally dry and sunny. After the New Year the sky is more often clouded, though rainfall remains slight; dull overcast days with a chilly wind are frequent. Coastal fogs occur from time to time in early spring during breaks in the monsoon, when warm south-easterly winds may temporarily displace the cool north-easterlies.

The summer is the rainy season, three-quarters of the average annual rainfall of 84.76 inches occurring during the period May to September. The south-west monsoon lasts from June to August, but is not so persistent as the north- east monsoon of winter. The weather during the summer is continuously hot and humid, and often cloudy and showery with occasional thunderstorms.

The mean monthly temperature ranges from 59°F in February to 82°F in July, the average for the year being 72°F. The temperature very rarely rises above 59°F in summer, or falls below 40°F in winter. The mean relative humidity exceeds 80% from March until August, but in early winter it may occasionally fall as low as 20%. The average daily duration of sunshine ranges from 3 hours in March to 7 hours in October.

Hong Kong is liable to be affected by typhoons during the period July to October, and typhoon gales have occa- sionally been experienced as early as June and as late as November. Spells of bad weather, with strong winds and heavy rain, normally occur several times each year owing to the passage of these storms at varying distances from the Colony. Gales due to typhoons occur on the average about once a year, but it is only rarely that the centre of a fully developed typhoon passes sufficiently close to Hong Kong to produce winds of hurricane force. The last occasion when a severe typhoon passed close to Hong Kong was in July 1946.

THE YEAR'S WEATHER

In 1956 the weather was drier and sunnier than usual.