Tag Archives: weather

Hong Kong: Weather website launched for Hong Kong 2009 East Asian Games

Posted on by

The Hong Kong Observatory today (November 27) launched a dedicated website (http://eastasiangames.weather.gov.hk/2009hk/content.htm) to provide weather information during the Hong Kong 2009 East Asian Games.

The website contains comprehensive weather information including the latest weather forecasts and warnings, real-time weather conditions and tidal information, which will be useful for the public in planning trips to the games venues.

Weather information around Tai Tam Bay, where the windsurfing event is held, and special site-specific forecasts are also available on the website for the public and participating teams.

Windsurfing is very weather-sensitive and may be disrupted by both calm and windy conditions, so the Observatory has set up a weather buoy mounted with observation instruments at Tai Tam Bay to provide site-specific weather observations. A specially configured computer model will be used to provide weather forecasts for the event.

Hong Kong: Results of study on impact of weather on senior citizens (with photos)

Posted on by

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association today (November 12) announced the findings of a joint study on the impact of cold and hot weather on the health of senior citizens in Hong Kong.

The study analysed the daily number of users activating the Personal Emergency Link Service (PE-Link) and requiring subsequent hospitalisation (hospitalised users) as well as the weather data recorded at HKO Headquarters from 2004 to 2008.The results indicated that besides air temperature, relative humidity also affected the health of senior citizens.Dry and cold weather had a particularly significant health impact on them.

When the minimum temperature was below 22 degrees Celsius, the number of hospitalised users increased as the temperature dropped.The figures were more than 10% higher when the temperature fell below 12 degrees Celsius.When the maximum temperature was higher than 30 degrees Celsius, the number of hospitalised users increased as temperature rose.The figures were more than 7% higher when the temperature reached 34 degrees Celsius or above (Figure 1).

Dry weather had a greater impact on senior citizens in cool seasons (Figure 2).During the study period, a high number of hospitalised users was recorded in about half of the cold and dry days (relative humidity at 70% or below).

Executive Director of the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association Mr Ma Kam-wah said the study results would help the association establish measures for cold and hot weather conditions.For example, the association would strengthen the manpower of the Call and Care Service Centre in response to changes in air temperature and relative humidity, and send recorded voice messages through the Caring Message Service (see Note below) to remind PE-Link users of the expected weather changes to minimise the impact on their health.

Director of the Hong Kong Observatory Dr Lee Boon-ying said the collaboration between the Observatory and the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association enhanced the understanding of the impact of weather on senior citizens, in particular the impact of dry weather in cool seasons.

We will continue our co-operation to contribute towards the safety of senior citizens, Dr Lee said.

As winter approaches, the Observatory and the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association are co-operating to promote the awareness of senior citizens of the need to prepare for the cold weather.With the Caring Message Service, a Senior Scientific Officer of the Observatory will, through recorded voice messages, remind about 70,000 PE-Link users to keep warm when cold surges arrive or in persistently cold weather.

Note: The Caring Message Service is provided by the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association through an interactive voice response system with autodial function. It delivers greetings, reminders and the latest information to Personal Emergency Link Service users on a regular basis, to help them keep in touch with the community.

ITT Picked to Build Advanced Imaging Systems for Japanese Weather Satellites

Posted on by

Multi-million Dollar Contract is Largest Foreign Space Win
ROCHESTER, N.Y.— ITT (NYSE:ITT) announced today that Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan’s largest satellite manufacturer, has selected ITT Space Systems to build the imaging systems for two geostationary satellites being built for the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The two geostationary satellites, named Himawari-8 and Himawari-9, will provide round-the-clock weather forecasts and severe weather alerts for the eastern Asia and Oceania.
The Himawari payloads will be based on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) that ITT is currently building for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R-series, or GOES-R, for NOAA’s next-generation geostationary constellation. This improved imager has the capability to monitor three times the amount of atmospheric conditions than current generation payloads, creating superior imagery data for severe weather analysis and forecast every 30 seconds.
This is a key win for ITT Space Systems Division. It’s our largest international contract to date; and when combined with the Advanced Baseline Imager work we’re doing for NASA, firmly establishes ITT as the worldwide leader for design and development of this class of meteorological instrument said Rob Mitrevski, vice president for Commercial and Space Science. We’re very proud of the fact that ITT meteorological payloads will help save lives and protect property around the world for many years to come
The Himawari (Japanese for sunflower) satellites, formally known as the Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellite series, are part of the World Weather Watch project within the World Meteorological Organization. Himawari-8 is expected to launch in 2014, followed by Himawari-9 in 2016.

Source: WEBWIRE

Hong Kong: A dry and warm October

Posted on by

October 2009 was warmer and drier than usual with a mean temperature of 26.2 degrees, which was 0.9 degrees above the normal of 25.3 degrees.The daily minimum temperatures during the month never fell below 23.0 degrees, which had occurred only once on record in 2006.The total rainfall of 44.4 millimetres in the month was about 71% below the normal figure of 151.9 millimetres.The accumulated rainfall since January 1 was 2071.7 millimetres, about 10% below the normal figure of 2313.1 millimetres for the same period.

Affected by a dry northeast monsoon over southern China, the weather in Hong Kong was generally fine and dry for the first six days of the month.Brief showers occurred on the morning of October 7 and fine and dry weather resumed for the next three days.

Tropical Storm Parma entered the South China Sea on October 9 and moved across the northern part of the South China Sea on the next day.Under the combined effect of the northeast monsoon and Parma, the weather in Hong Kong became windy with a few rain patches from October 11-14.With the dissipation of Parma over Vietnam on October 15, local winds moderated and the weather became brighter with some haze on October 15 and 16.It was sunny and dry on the next two days.

An area of low pressure over the northwestern part of the South China Sea intensified into a tropical depression on October 19.Under the influence of the peripheral rain bands associated with the tropical depression, local weather turned cloudy with a few rain patches.

The northeast monsoon over southern China strengthened on October 20, bringing cloudy, windy and slightly cooler weather to Hong Kong on that day.It remained cloudy the next day.With the moderation of the northeast monsoon, the weather turned fine and dry on October 22.Affected by a dry continental airstream, the weather continued to be mainly fine and dry over the territory until the end of the month.

Six tropical cyclones occurred over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in the month.

Details of the issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1.Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal of October are tabulated in Table 2.