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GEOGRAPHY

overcast days with a chilly wind are frequent. Coastal fogs happen from time to time during breaks in the early spring monsoon when warm south-easterly winds may temporarily displace the cool north-easterlies.

Summer is the rainy season. However, the monsoon winds are not as persistent as those blowing in winter. The weather during summer is almost continuously hot and humid night and day, and is often cloudy and showery with occasional thunderstorms. It is usually at its most unpleasant from early June to early August.

The annual rainfall as measured at the Royal Observatory can be highly erratic. It has ranged from 46 inches to 119 inches, but the normal value is 85 inches. There is also considerable variation in the rainfall in different parts of the Colony. The wettest areas are the mountain regions, particularly around Tai Mo Shan and Tai Yue Shan. In a normal year the five dry months from November to March only yield about 9 inches as compared with 76 inches spread over the other seven months.

The mean daily temperature ranges from about 58°F in February to over 82°F in July. During the hottest month, July, the mean maximum temperature is 86.9°F but the summer tem- perature often greatly exceeds 90°F. February is the coldest month when in most years temperatures can be expected to fall below 45°F. Freezing was officially reported at the Royal Observatory in January 1893, when 32°F was recorded. Ice forms quite fre- quently on the high land above 1,500 feet.

The mean relative humidity is generally over 80 per cent from early March until the end of August. An exceptionally low figure of 10 per cent has been recorded in January.

Hong Kong experiences gales caused by tropical storms in any of the months from May to November, but they are most likely from July to September. The passage of typhoons several times a year at varying distances from Hong Kong often brings spells of bad weather with strong winds and heavy rain. Occasionally the centre of the typhoon passes sufficiently close to produce winds of hurricane force when much damage and loss of life may occur.