A weather-related report from Hong Kong caught my attention early this week. The report said the special administrative region of China is expecting a temperature drop to 11 degrees Celsius for a few days.
It may sound like cool weather but meteorologists say that if the wind chills are at 13° or below, there is a risk that one can get frost bite.
At 13° temperature, people are already advised to layer up and get indoor every 20-30 minutes. Better still, you stay at home during this time to avoid possible contracting viral infection, like common colds.
The report reminded me of my first trips to Hong Kong one late February almost 15 years ago – the time being part of the Hong Kong winter season.
I was invited for a week’s visit by a friend who was, at that time, living in the high-rise area of the newly-developed portion of the New Territory, which lies at the farthest end then of the train system’s western route.
A mild Hong Kong weather greeted me upon arrival but things worsened that night as shown on TV weather reports – that the temperature was starting to drop.
Not realizing the peculiarities of the weather in the city, I went to bed – after my host adjusted the thermostat – with plans to explore the following morning the nearby park, which we passed by as we headed to my friend’s apartment.
The place surprised me with the view it offered from the 8th floor – it was overlooking the sea on one side and the rolling hills on the other, a breathtaking sight I managed to catch as dusk swelled in.
But my plan was foiled the following morning when I pushed open the main door at the ground floor, after passing by the security personnel who stared with a concerned look at his new guest who was, wrapped in a thin gray jacket.
As the door opened, I realized immediately why he looked bothered. I stepped back in a split second. The cold breeze was impossible to bear. Plan: canceled.
I returned to the 8th floor and waited for my host to be up to check if there were warm clothes to share. I learned from the evening TV news later that day that the warning morning temperature was a record-low of 6°.
The next three days were just as cold and our movement was limited to short train rides and quick grocery trips.
On the fourth day and until my trip was over, the sun was up, giving me the chance to explore the nearby park and make longer trips to check out more outdoor attractions, a pleasant experience, indeed
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Monitoring Hong Kong weather has become a personal interest, because I have developed my network of friends – both natives and OFWs – after making several trips there. Likewise, it has become part of the weather watch routine of families of tens and thousands of our fellow Filipinos who have made the territory their second home.
The past few years have been interesting, especially because of incidents of cyclones and floods hitting the island.
Of greater interest are the calamities there spawned by typhoons that earlier devastated the Philippines. Hong Kong is on the trail of a number of typhoons that exit the Philippines usually via the northern parts of our country.
In 2024, Typhoon Nica (Toraji) with its Gale Warning No. 8, felled dozen of trees in the island.
Last year, the typhoons which had earlier passed the Philippines Area of Responsibility included Crising (Wipha), which was categorized as Signal No. 10 (the highest) and Nando (Ragasa), which injured more than 100 and caused storm surges and massive floods in September. A month later, Matmo (Paolo) came and also damaged and destroyed massive property.
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Paying attention to weather, both around us and that affecting our neighbors has become a collective concern, thereby giving more substance to what French literary figure Marcel Proust wrote: “A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.”
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As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. (Genesis 8:22) | NWI
