Hong Kong moon-gazers facing isolated thunderstorms for coming Mid-Autumn Festival

Potential area of low pressure could develop into typhoon and enter the South China Sea next week but movements uncertain

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Heavy rain hit parts of Hong Kong on Saturday afternoon. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 6:16pm, 14 Sep 2024

Isolated thunderstorms could affect the plans of Hongkongers hoping to go moon-gazing for the Mid-Autumn Festival on Tuesday evening, with the city’s forecaster also saying a tropical cyclone may enter the South China Sea later next week.

The Hong Kong Observatory said showers on Saturday afternoon had brought more than 20mm of rainfall to parts of the city as thunderstorms associated with upper-air disturbances continued to affect the coast of Guangdong.

Residents should expect sunny periods on the Mid-Autumn Festival on Tuesday with isolated thunderstorms in the evening. On Wednesday, a public holiday, the weather would be mainly fine except for one or two showers in the morning, it said.

While a northeast monsoon was expected to reach the city later next week to bring very hot and mainly fine weather, the forecaster also pointed to a possibility of unsettled conditions.

“A broad trough of low pressure will bring unsettled weather to the seas near Luzon [in the Philippines], and there may be development of an area of low pressure, but there are uncertainties in its subsequent movement,” the Observatory said in its nine-day forecast.

The system could develop into a tropical cyclone and enter the South China Sea next week, and then head towards mainland China’s Fujian province, a computerised prediction by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts showed.