ENG-1993 — Page 463

THE ENVIRONMENT

The department also carries out noise monitoring and surveys. It is concerned about traffic in densely-populated and congested metropolitan areas. Resurfacing noisy roads. with quiet surfacing material will continue to provide relief for adversely affected people.

Government Laboratory

The Government Laboratory provides a wide range of chemical testing services to government departments, principally the Environmental Protection Department, in relation to environmental protection. These services include the testing of air particulates, deposition samples, river and marine water samples, sediment samples and waste water samples for a variety of pollution level indicators. About 220 000 tests were conducted in 1993.

Apart from analysing routine environmental samples for monitoring purposes, the Government Chemist also functions as a referee analyst under a number of regulations and ordinances. Fuel oil samples and industrial waste water samples are tested for compliance with the Air Pollution Control (Fuel Restriction) Regulations and the Water Pollution Control Ordinance, respectively. With the recent enactment of the Waste Disposal (Chemical Waste) (General) Regulation, testing of chemical waste from local industry is also undertaken.

About 800 samples were tested for enforcement and prosecution purposes in 1993.

Climate

Hong Kong's climate is sub-tropical, tending towards the temperate for nearly half the year. During November and December, there are pleasant breezes, plenty of sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Many people regard these as the best months of the year. January and February are more cloudy, with occasional cold fronts followed by dry northerly winds. It is not uncommon for temperatures to drop below 10°C in urban areas. The lowest temperature ever recorded at the Royal Observatory was 0°C, although sub-zero temperatures and frost occur at times on high ground and in the New Territories.

March and April can also be very pleasant although there are occasional spells of high humidity. Fog and drizzle can be particularly troublesome on high ground which is exposed to the southeast, and air traffic and ferry services are occasionally disrupted because of reduced visibility.

May to August are hot and humid with occasional showers and thunderstorms, particularly during the mornings. Afternoon temperatures often exceed 31°C whereas at night, temperatures generally remain around 26°C with high humidity. There is usually a fine dry spell in July, which may last for one to two weeks, or even longer in some years.

September is the month during which Hong Kong is most likely to be affected by typhoons, although tropical cyclones of varying strength are not unusual at any time between May and November. On average, about 31 tropical cyclones form over the western North Pacific and China seas every year, and about half of them reach typhoon strength (with maximum winds of 118 kilometres per hour or more).

When a tropical cyclone is about 700 to 1 000 kilometres southeast of Hong Kong, the weather is usually fine and exceptionally hot, but isolated thunderstorms sometimes occur in the evenings. If the cyclone's centre comes closer to the territory, winds will increase and rain can become heavy and widespread. The heavy rain may last for a few days, and subsequent landslips and flooding sometimes cause considerably more damage than the winds.

399