Hong Kong winters may vanish in 50 years: weather expert

Weather experts warn Hong Kong will no longer have winter season in 50 years. The number of colder days in winter season has declined from more than 30 days to 15 days now and will decline further to zero by end of the century.

Hong Kong's winters could vanish within 50 years, with the number of cold days declining virtually to zero due to global warming and urbanization, the head of the city's weather observatory warned on Friday. Lam Chiu-ying, director of the Hong Kong observatory said that according to their projections, by the end of this century, there will be less than one cold day every winter in Hong Kong. The winter will practically disappear in Hong Kong. Between 1961 and 1990, in Hong Kong there used to be an average of 21 cold days every winter but it is only half of that in 2000 and now. A cold day in Hong Kong is defined by temperatures below 12 degree Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Hong Kong enjoys a sub-tropical climate with cooler winter temperatures and some frost found in its highest peak of Tai Mo Shan. But all the cooler days are vanishing according to the weather experts in Hong Kong. Temperatures in Hong Kong has risen around 1.2 degrees over the past century, which is double the global average temperature rises. Lam warned if current conditions persist, there won’t be any winters in the city. Hong Kong’s rapidly increasing urban population might also play a role in this.

"We would really start losing the very distinct seasonal march throughout the year ... We would really look more tropical than we (are) now," Lam told reporters.

The number of summer "hot-nights" in Hong Kong, with temperatures above 28 degrees Celsius, has already jumped to 30 a year, has increased almost four time compared to the 1990s. The heat trapped by the concrete city and its skyscrapers are unable to dissipate the heat fully at night. Lam attributed Hong Kong's forecast temperature rise of three to four degrees by the end of the century to urbanization and global warming in equal measure. Similar trends will be found globally also with cities having less winter season and more summer season.