The Hong Kong Observatory today announced that July was the hottest month recorded in Hong Kong since records began in 1884.

This was due to the stronger than usual subtropical ridge persisting over southern China for most of the month.

The monthly mean maximum temperature of 33.3 degrees Celsius was 1.9 degrees above average, while the monthly mean temperature of 30.2 degrees Celsius and monthly mean minimum temperature of 28.3 degrees Celsius were 1.4 and 1.5 degrees higher than average.

All of them were the highest of the corresponding monthly mean values on record.

July also saw the highest number of very hot days and hot nights recorded in a month, at 20 and 21.

With a long spell of sunny weather, the month was also much drier than usual.

The total monthly rainfall was only 125.4mm, about 33% of the normal figure.

The accumulated rainfall for the first seven months of the year was 1,088.8mm, which is around 26% below normal for the same period.