The Year’s Weather – 2024
The Year’s Weather – 2024
Andy So Chi-wai
2024 was Hong Kong’s warmest year on record with the annual mean temperature reaching 24.8°C, 1.3°C above the normal. Eleven months in the year were warmer than usual, including the record-breaking monthly mean temperatures of April and October. The mean temperature for autumn (September to November) reached 26.5°C, the highest for this period on record. There were 52 Very Hot Days and 50 Hot Nights during the year – ranking among the third highest and the fourth highest on record, respectively. The annual total rainfall was 2,309.7 millimetres, about 5 percent below normal.
A total of seven tropical cyclones affected Hong Kong during the year. The No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal was issued during the passage of tropical cyclones Yagi and Toraji. Tropical cyclones Yinxing, Toraji and Man-yi struck in rapid succession at the end of Hong Kong’s typhoon season, necessitating the issuance of tropical cyclone warning signals for each of these storms, the first time this has happened in November since 1946.
Long-term time series of annual mean temperature in Hong Kong (1885-2024).
Satellite image at 8 a.m. (Hong Kong Time) on 12 November 2024, showing that four tropical cyclones occurred concurrently over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea, for the first time in November since 1961.
