Exceptional foggy conditions for January in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is experiencing exceptional foggy conditions for January. Under the influence of a humid maritime airstream coming from the South China Sea, it has been generally foggy over the south China coastal region in the past few days. Today (16 January 2002), the visibility inside the Victoria Harbour as reported by the Observatory dropped to 800 metres in the early morning, the lowest on record in January since 1991. The visibility in offshore waters around Walgan Island fell below 100 metres this morning.

The humid maritime airstream will persist for a few more days. Conditions in Hong Kong will remain humid and foggy.

Cold air is piling up over central China but is for the time being held back by the Nanling mountain range in northern Guangdong. A surge of the winter monsoon will bring the cold air to the coastal region on Sunday (20 January 2002). It will then start to become significantly cooler and the fog will clear.

For the latest weather forecast, please refer to the following webpages:
http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/flw.htm (local weather forecast) and
http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/f5d.htm (5-day weather forecast).