{
  "id": 10319331,
  "title": "Hong Kong’s changing climate in 7 charts: from quadrupled ‘very hot days’ to record rainfall",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/hong-kongs-changing-climate-in-7-charts-from-quadrupled-very-hot-days-10319331",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-27T23:45:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hong Kong Free Press",
    "slug": "hong-kong-free-press-hongkongfp",
    "url": "https://hongkongfp.com/2026/09/28/hong-kongs-changing-climate-in-7-charts-from-quadrupled-very-hot-days-to-record-rainfall/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Hong Kong is experiencing significant changes in its climate, with rising temperatures and more extreme weather events. In the 2000s, the city averaged 13.4 \"very hot days\" annually, defined as days with a daily maximum temperature of 33 degrees or higher. However, this figure has surged to over 50 such days annually since the 2020s, with 54 very hot days already recorded in 2023 by September 21. The number of hot days in August has generally increased in line with the total number of very hot days. Additionally, the city has seen a tripling of annual hours under the \"very hot weather warning\" issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, rising from 464 hours in 2000 to over 1,400 hours in 2021. This warning threshold considers temperature, humidity, and airflow. The definition of \"extremely hot days\" – days with a maximum temperature of 35 degrees or above – has also changed, with an average of 4.6 such days annually over the past decade. August temperatures have increasingly surpassed the \"normal\" mean temperature of 28.7 degrees, with only two years in the past decade having a below-normal mean August temperature. Furthermore, very hot days are now starting earlier in the year, with several occurring in May, September, and even October in recent years.",
  "summary": "Hongkongers have long complained of the city’s summers getting hotter and longer – and the numbers show they’re not wrong. Data from the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) shows that record after record is being broken, from the number of “hot nights” a year to the average temperature through August, the final month of summer. HKFP […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Hong Kong Free Press",
        "title": "Hong Kong’s changing climate in 7 charts: from quadrupled ‘very hot days’ to record rainfall",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/hong-kongs-changing-climate-in-7-charts-from-quadrupled-very-hot-days",
        "published": "2026-09-27T23:45:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post - Hong Kong",
        "title": "How Hong Kong is trying a new solution to its land value problem",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/how-hong-kong-is-trying-a-new-solution-to-its-land-value-problem",
        "published": "2026-09-28T01:30:09.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}