June was much hotter than usual due to a stronger subtropical ridge over southern China, the Hong Kong Observatory announced today.

The observatory said the monthly mean minimum temperature was 27.8 degrees Celsius, 1.6 degrees above the normal figure and the highest on record for June.

The month’s mean temperature was 29.6 degrees Celsius and the mean maximum temperature was 32.3 degrees Celsius, both the second highest on record for June.

With a total of 18 hot nights, June was on par with July 1993 as the highest on record in terms of the number of hot nights in a month. The 12 consecutive hot nights that started from June 19 also set a new record for the number of consecutive hot nights for June.

The first half of this year was exceptionally warm, with both the mean maximum temperature of 25.7 degrees Celsius and the mean temperature of 23 degrees Celsius being the highest on record for the same period.

The mean minimum temperature of 21.1 degrees Celsius in the first half of the year was also the third highest on record for the same period.

Despite the episode of heavy rain from June 6 to 8, the monthly total rainfall was only 397.2mm, which was about 13% below normal.

The accumulated rainfall for the first half of the year was 963.4mm, about 12% below normal.