The Hong Kong Observatory today said the city’s weather in April was much warmer than usual, with the highest monthly mean maximum temperature, monthly mean temperature and monthly mean minimum temperature on record for April.
 

The three figures were 28.9, 26.4 and 24.5 degrees Celsius respectively.
 

Under the influence of a number of troughs of low pressure, the month was also wetter than usual with total rainfall of 257.1 mm, about 68% more than the normal figure of 153 mm.
 

The accumulated rainfall recorded in the first four months of the year was 289.5 mm, about 4% below the normal figure of 300.4 mm for the same period.
 

On April 4, the daily mean temperature of 27.2 degrees Celsius and daily minimum temperature of 26.5 degrees Celsius were both the highest on record for the Ching Ming Festival. 
 

On the afternoon of April 13, temperatures at the observatory rose to a maximum of 31.9 degrees Celsius, the highest of the month. 
 

An active trough of low pressure over the northern part of South China edged south on April 20 and lingered along the coastal areas of Guangdong over the next three days.
 

There were heavy showers and squally thunderstorms in the city from April 20 to 23. More than 100 mm of rainfall was generally recorded over the territory and the rainfall even exceeded 200 mm over North, Tai Po, Tsuen Wan and Sai Kung Districts on these four days.
 

With the rain, temperatures at the observatory dropped to a minimum of 21.5 degrees Celsius on April 21, the lowest of the month but the highest monthly absolute minimum temperature on record for April. Moreover, a waterspout was spotted near Clear Water Bay that morning.
 

The showers were particularly heavy on April 26, when more than 30 mm of rainfall was generally recorded over the territory. More than 100 mm of rainfall was recorded over Sai Kung and Sha Tin Districts.
 

The daily mean temperature of 28.8 degrees Celsius and daily minimum temperature of 27.7 degrees Celsius on April 27 were both the highest on record for April. 
 

Owing to an area of intense thundery showers associated with a trough of low pressure, the weather deteriorated at night on April 30, when there were outbreaks of heavy showers and severe squally thunderstorms.
 

About 30 mm of rainfall was recorded in many places. Hail was reported in Yuen Long and violent gusts of around 110 km per hour were recorded at Tai O.