The Weather of February 2024 - A mild and dry February
Under the influence of a humid maritime airstream, the weather of Hong Kong was foggy with a few light rain patches in the morning and at night on the first two days of the month. The visibility in the harbour fell to below 1000 metres on the night of 1 February. It was also warm with sunny periods during the day on these two days. A fresh easterly airstream affected Hong Kong on 3 February and there was coastal mist in the morning and sunny intervals during the day. The weather was mainly cloudy with a few rain patches and coastal fog the next day. The visibility at Waglan Island once fell to around 200 metres.
While the weather still remained cold with a few rain patches on the morning of 10 February, with the departure of the cloud band covering the coastal areas of Guangdong, the weather of Hong Kong turned fine and dry in that afternoon and remained so on the next three days. Under clear skies, the temperatures in the New Territories were significantly lower than the urban areas on the mornings of 11 and 12 February. With the moderation of the northeast monsoon, the weather was warm during the day on 14 – 15 February and temperatures over most parts of Hong Kong rose to 25 degrees or above. A cold front moved across the coastal areas of Guangdong on the morning of 16 February. While local weather was fine at first, with a band of clouds covering the coastal areas of Guangdong, it became cooler with a few light rain patches on the afternoon of 16 February and remained so the next day.
With the northeast monsoon affecting the coastal areas of Guangdong being gradually replaced by a warm and humid maritime airstream, local weather was warm with sunny periods during the day on 18 – 22 February. With plenty of sunshine on 21 February, the temperatures at the Observatory rose to a maximum of 27.8 degrees on that afternoon, the highest of the month. It was also foggy on the mornings of 19 – 22 February. The visibility in the harbour fell below 500 metres on 19 February. Another cold front moved across the coast of southern China on the night of 22 February. Under the influence of the associated northeast monsoon, the weather turned mainly cloudy and cooler with a few light rain patches in the morning and at night on 23 – 28 February. With the strengthening of the northeast monsoon affecting the coast of southern China, the weather of Hong Kong became cool appreciably in the later part of the afternoon on the last day of the month.
(Photos courtesy of Dicky Ng (top) and Nick Choy (bottom))
Fog over Victoria Harbour on the morning of 19 February 2024
(Photo courtesy of Chung Ming Lee)
Sea fog near Ting Kau Bridge on the morning of 21 February 2024
(Photo courtesy of Lan Yu Yang)
There was no tropical cyclone over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in February 2024.
Details of issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Tables 1.1 to 1.2. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal for February are tabulated in Table 2.
Warnings and Signals issued in February 2024
Colour | Beginning Time | Ending Time | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Day/Month | HKT | Day/Month | HKT | |
Yellow | 10 / 2 | 0945 | 10 / 2 | 1845 |
Yellow | 11 / 2 | 0600 | 11 / 2 | 0745 |
Red | 11 / 2 | 0745 | 11 / 2 | 2330 |
Yellow | 12 / 2 | 0600 | 12 / 2 | 0915 |
Red | 12 / 2 | 0915 | 12 / 2 | 2300 |
Yellow | 13 / 2 | 0600 | 13 / 2 | 2000 |
Yellow | 18 / 2 | 1150 | 18 / 2 | 1700 |
Yellow | 25 / 2 | 0730 | 25 / 2 | 2100 |
Beginning Time | Ending Time | ||
---|---|---|---|
Day/Month | HKT | Day/Month | HKT |
7 / 2 | 1620 | 11 / 2 | 0945 |
29 / 2 | 1620 | 3 / 3 | 1015 |
Meteorological Element | Figure of the Month | Departure from Normal* |
---|---|---|
Mean Daily Maximum Air Temperature | 21.9 degrees C | 2.5 degrees above normal |
Mean Air Temperature | 19.4 degrees C | 2.3 degrees above normal |
Mean Daily Minimum Air Temperature | 17.6 degrees C | 2.3 degrees above normal |
Mean Dew Point Temperature | 15.7 degrees C | 2.5 degrees above normal |
Mean Relative Humidity | 80 % | 1 % above normal |
Mean Cloud Amount | 75 % | 3 % above normal |
Total Rainfall | 4.1 mm | 34.8 mm below normal |
Number of hours of Reduced VisibilityΔ | 5 hours | 101.9 hours below normal§ |
Total Bright Sunshine Duration | 107.4 hours | 5.7 hours above normal |
Mean Daily Global Solar Radiation | 11.19 Megajoule / square metre | 0.95 Megajoule above normal |
Total Evaporation | 63.8 mm | 3.4 mm above normal |
Remarks : | All measurements were made at the Hong Kong Observatory except sunshine, solar radiation and evaporation which were recorded at King's Park Meteorological Station and visibility which was observed at the Hong Kong International Airport. |
Δ |
The visibility readings at the Hong Kong International Airport are based on hourly observations by professional meteorological observers in 2004 and before, and average readings over the 10-minute period before the clock hour of the visibility meter near the middle of the south runway from 2005 onwards. The change of the data source in 2005 is an improvement of the visibility assessment using instrumented observations following the international trend. |
* Departure from 1991 - 2020 climatological normal, except for number of hours of reduced visibility |
|
§ Departure from mean value between 1997 and 2023 |
Remarks : | Extremely high: above 95th percentile Above normal: between 75th and 95th percentile Normal: between 25th and 75th percentile Below normal: between 5th and 25th percentile Extremely low: below 5th percentile Percentile and 5-day running average values are computed based on the data from 1991 to 2020 |