Projections of Extremely Hot Days, Extremely Warm-and-Humid Days, and Extremely Wet and Extremely Dry Years for Hong Kong

Projections of Extremely Hot Days, Extremely Warm-and-Humid Days, and Extremely Wet and Extremely Dry Years for Hong Kong

Tse Wai-po

Using climate model data from the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and contemporary statistical methods, the Hong Kong Observatory updated projections of extremely hot days, extremely warm-and-humid days, and extremely wet and extremely dry years for Hong Kong in the 21st century. With unabating greenhouse gas emissions, the annual numbers of extremely warm-and-humid days (Figure 1) and extremely hot weather are expected to significantly increase this century. In addition, the numbers of extremely wet and extremely dry years will also increase this century.

Figure 1 Projections of 20-year average numbers of extremely warm-and-humid days in Hong Kong under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios.