Hong Kong records hottest day ever as Typhoon Dolphin fuels heatwave

Observatory says 36.9C posted on Sunday is city’s highest official temperature since its records began 142 years ago, with storm driving intense heat in region Hong Kong has officially recorded its highest ever temperature as Typhoon Dolphin swept warm air over the city, the meteorological service said. The city’s weather observatory posted a temperature of 36.9C on Sunday, the highest recorded since records began in 1884, the Hong Kong Observatory said in the afternoon. The approaching storm has fuelled intense heat in the region over the weekend and triggered mass flight cancellations and evacuations along China’s east coast before making landfall there on Sunday evening. The previous record for Hong Kong was set at 36.6C on 22 August 2017, before Typhoon Hato hit. Figures recorded at the observatory’s headquarters are the official reference point for the city’s records, but temperatures elsewhere in the densely built Chinese finance hub topped 39C. A weather station in Sheung Shui, in the city’s north, recorded 39.8C, the highest temperature logged in Hong Kong since automatic weather stations were introduced in the 1980s, the observatory said. “With Tropical Cyclone Dolphin mov