Facelift of the “Hong Kong Port Meteorological Services” Webpage

24 June 2024

The Hong Kong Observatory launched the revamped webpage for Hong Kong Port Meteorological Services. With reorganised content, the webpage facilitates Hong Kong Voluntary Observing Ships (HKVOS) and the shipping community to obtain relevant information on port meteorological services. The layout has been improved with the use of icons which enable users to quickly locate and browse the content of interest. In addition, the webpage has also been enhanced with the inclusion of an example of a ship weather report, explanation of the codes in the reports and their meanings. The example serves as a useful reference for HKVOS.

The Observatory started the provision of port meteorological services by an officer with the specific duty of visiting ships, checking and calibrating clocks on ships as early as 1892. The Observatory also started recruiting a fleet of locally based voluntary weather observing ships in 1949 under the Voluntary Observing Ship Scheme of the World Meteorological Organization to collect weather observations at seas, contributing to maritime safety.