Seasonal forecast for winter 2012/13

The central and eastern equatorial Pacific has been cooling in the last couple of months and the sea surface temperatures were near normal in October. Taking into account oceanic observations and the latest forecasts by a number of climate models around the world, the sea surface temperatures are expected to remain normal through early 2013 (http://www.hko.gov.hk/lrf/enso/enso-latest.htm). Besides, many climate models forecast that the northeast monsoon over southern China will likely be stronger than normal this winter, bringing normal to below-normal temperature and rainfall to the region.

Taking the above into consideration, the Observatory expects Hong Kong to experience normal to below-normal temperature and rainfall this winter (December 2012 - February 2013).

The seasonal forecast for Hong Kong is available at the following website:
http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/season/season.htm