During a press briefing held on 18 March 2025, the Director of the Observatory, Dr Chan Pak-wai, recapped the weather in the past year, elaborated on the weather outlook for this year, and introduced the Observatory’s latest services.
This year, the Observatory enhanced the radar and satellite imagery services on the Observatory’s website, and added graphical rainfall information for various districts in Hong Kong to the “MyObservatory” mobile app as well as the website, to enable the public to be better understand weather conditions.
To strengthen dissemination of weather information so the public can make advance preparations for weather changes, the Observatory will, on a trial basis, produce videos with forecasters explaining imminent changes in the weather. It is expected that videos will be provided in some of the Weather Notes articles published in the second half of this year.
At the end of last year, weather information for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was launched on the “MyObservatory” mobile app, to help citizens who are travelling in the area to obtain the latest official weather information. Meanwhile, the “Dr Tin” chatbot also supports a voice function on “MyObservatory”. Members of the public may update the app to the latest version to enjoy the new features.
With the rapid development of AI, the Observatory added the forecasting products of two AI-powered models as well as upper-air forecast charts to the “Earth Weather” webpage last year. The Observatory will continue enhancing the “Earth Weather” webpage this year with the addition of more computer model forecast products, including forecasting chances of thunderstorms, giving the public a more comprehensive understanding of the changing weather.
Dr Chan Pak-wai, Director of the Observatory (middle), together with Mr Lee Lap-shun, Assistant Director of the Observatory (Radiation Monitoring and Assessment) (second from left), Ms Sandy Song Man-kuen, Assistant Director of the Observatory (Development, Research and Administration) (second from right), Mr Chan Sai-tick, Assistant Director of the Observatory (Aviation Weather Services) (left), and Mr Cheng Yuen-chung, Assistant Director of the Observatory (Forecasting and Warning Services) (right), hosting the press briefing on the latest services of the Hong Kong Observatory.
Video of Director Dr Chan Pak-wai’s briefing. [in Cantonese]
