If you’ve been longing for a bright and sunny Hong Kong summer spent dawdling on the beach or cruising on a junk boat, we’ve got bad news for you. More storms are brewing in the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, and the Hong Kong Observatory has forecast that as many as five typhoons may still approach the city before the year is out.
Earlier this year in March, the Observatory issued a notice expecting a ‘normal to above normal’ number of tropical cyclones – about five to eight – to enter the 500-km range of Hong Kong in 2025. However, on August 15, the weather forecast agency revised its assessment to ‘above normal’ with an updated total count of seven to 10 tropical cyclones expected to pass through Hong Kong within the calendar year.
Hong Kong’s typhoon season typically starts in May or June, and runs all the way until November. Hong Kong has already been battered by five typhoons this year, with the strongest one, the T10-rated Typhoon Wipha, slamming into the city in July.
Compared to last year, where we experienced seven typhoons severe enough to require the hoisting of tropical cyclone warning signals – including the Super Typhoon Yagi in September 2024 and three successive typhoons in November 2024 – 2025 is on track to surpass the previous year’s annual count until typhoon season ends, should the Observatory’s prediction hold.
Considering the power of the mythical Li Ka-shing force field and a dominant pattern of typhoons commonly affecting our shores on weekends – with tropical cyclone warning signals hoisted accordingly – we might just have to kiss the summer sun and fun goodbye.
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