This leaflet tells you about the standard of services that you can expect from the Hong Kong Observatory and the steps you can take if you wish to make any comments or complaints about these services.
Vision, Mission and Values of the Hong Kong Observatory
Vision
Be a world model in protecting lives and building a better society through science
Mission
- To deliver useful and effective meteorological services
- To provide quality services in climate, radiation, time standard,
seismology, oceanography, astronomy and others
- To strengthen public preparedness for disasters
Values
- Passion
Working with joy and dedication
- People
Caring about the community and colleagues
- Teamwork
Embracing partners and sharing ideas
- Scientific spirit
Being open, objective and innovative
- Foresight
Being flexible, positive and proactive
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Forecasters at work and keeping weather watch. |
Port Meteorological Officer visiting one of the Voluntary Observing Ships. |
Aviation forecasters preparing flight weather information at the Airport Meteorological Office. |
Services Delivered
The Central Forecasting Office of the Hong Kong Observatory operates round-the-clock, producing regular weather bulletins
for dissemination through the press, radio and television and other communication services as required. Bulletins include, as necessary, warnings of tropical cyclones, rainstorms, thunderstorms, landslips, fire danger, strong monsoon, cold and very hot weather, and frost. An advisory service on the Ultraviolet (UV) Index is also operated to provide information on the strength of the solar UV radiation in Hong Kong as well as to promote public awareness of the potential harm of UV radiation.
These information is also directly available to the public through our Dial-a-Weather service (Telephone number: 187 8200) and our
websites (http://www.hko.gov.hk or http://www.weather.gov.hk). In addition, a variety of meteorological, geophysical and time information is also available through Dial-a-Weather service. Weather information is disseminated to commercial communication and paging services, making it available on various electronic media.
In addition to the weather services for the public, we provide special weather services for international aviation, shipping and also local organizations whose operations are weather-sensitive, such as power utilities, container terminal and transport operators. If your organization's operations too are weather-sensitive, you are welcome to make prior arrangements with us for the necessary advice to be given to you at a specified time or when the weather deteriorates to a particular level.
We also provide geophysical, climatological and oceanographic information and consultative services to the public and private sector.
Recording of weather forecasts for Dial-a-Weather.
We operate a comprehensive nuclear radiation monitoring service to provide information on radiation levels representative of the local environment. Information on ambient gamma radiation dose rates is issued to the press daily. More detailed results are published by the Observatory in monthly bulletins and annual reports.
The Observatory's Mobile Radiation Monitoring Station.
We also operate an atomic clock to maintain the Hong Kong time standard and provide time checking services through the Internet, Dial-a-Weather service (Telephone number: 187 8200) and local radio stations. Through the Internet the public can synchronize the clocks of their computers with the Observatory's time server (stdtime.gov.hk) which is in turn synchronized to our atomic clock.
The Observatory's Caesium beam atomic clock as the Hong Kong Time Standard.
Performance Standards and Targets
Timeliness
We are committed to issuing at least one bulletin every hour of the day to the public, giving an update of the air temperature in various regions of Hong Kong and any weather warnings which may be currently in force. We aim at disseminating the bulletins within 10 minutes after each hour.
All departing international flights are supplied with meteorological documentation conforming to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Such information is made available to airlines two hours or more before the scheduled time of departure to meet the requirement of airlines.
For the marine community, we aim at disseminating weather bulletins and warnings to the broadcasting stations 15 minutes or more before the scheduled time of broadcast.
Accuracy
We are committed to producing accurate weather forecasts with state-of-the-art equipment and techniques. Public opinion surveys conducted by an independent consultant commissioned by the Hong Kong Observatory show that the percentage of weather forecasts perceived to be accurate by the public has increased to around 80% in recent years from about 74% in the early 1990s. About 70% of people surveyed consider the weather forecasts nowadays are more accurate than those of 3 to 4 years ago.
Our special forecasts for international aviation and shipping are consistently rated by over 90% of aircraft and ship captains as being accurate or very accurate. We will strive to maintain this level of achievement.
Service
All telephone enquiries will be received attentively and answered professionally and politely.
All written enquiries will be responded to within 10 days in the way of either an interim or a full reply.
All meetings with us will be held in clean, bright and comfortable surroundings. Our staff will be friendly, helpful and professional.
Performance Monitoring
Each year we commission an independent market research company to conduct two surveys to gauge the public's perception of the accuracy of our forecasts. The survey results are published annually. We also conduct surveys at regular intervals to gauge the perception of the accuracy of forecasts provided to special users.
We have a customer liaison group to provide a more formal forum for direct communication and exchange of views between the Observatory and users of aviation meteorological services. We have also established the Friends of the Observatory group and its number of members has grown to more than 7000. Comments and ideas of members have been useful in identifying the needs of the public, resulting in an improvement on the quality of our service.
Meeting of the customer liaison group on aviation meteorological services.
Public Information
We have established a Resource Centre in a commercial building near the Observatory for easy access by the public to obtain information and
publications. Leaflets describing our services and various weather warnings are freely available at the Resource Centre at
Units 2304-2309
23/F Miramar Tower
132 Nathan Road, Kowloon
(Tel : 2926 8250)
The Observatory's Resource Centre.
You can also obtain the leaflets through mail or download the information from the
Observatory's websites at
http://www.hko.gov.hk
or http://www.weather.gov.hk
Further, we produce scientific publications, climatological summaries and educational material on subjects that might be of interest to the public. Most of these publications are available from the Observatory's Resource Centre and can also be downloaded from the
Observatory's websites.
We welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have on our services and operations.
We will strive to achieve our performance standards and targets but there might be occasions beyond our control leading to a sub-standard performance. If you require an explanation about these occasions, you can write to or telephone the following officer :
All complaints will be dealt with expeditiously. Should you be dissatisfied with the way your case has been dealt with, you should write to the Director of the Hong Kong Observatory.
