Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O recorded China’s highest rainfall so far this year. Why?

Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O has experienced the highest cumulative rainfall in China so far this year, with 2,397mm (94.37 inches) recorded in the first 7½ months, topping a chart from the national meteorological centre.

But Leung Wing-mo, former assistant director of the Hong Kong Observatory, said on Thursday that while southern China was more prone to heavy rainfall under the influence of a southwestern monsoon, the exact pattern was highly arbitrary.

“There is no special reason. Heavy rainfall is purely random. This time it is Tseung Kwan O; next time, it will be elsewhere,” he said.

“Over the past three decades, various parts of Hong Kong have reported record-breaking rainfall.”

In a social media post on Sunday, China’s National Meteorological Centre shared a chart highlighting the top 10 areas in the country where the highest rainfall levels were recorded between January and mid-August this year.

Tseung Kwan O topped the ranking, followed by Fogang with 2,172mm and Yingde with 2,051mm. The other two locations are in Guangdong province.

Most areas named on the chart are situated in Guangdong, except for Huangshan, a mountain range in the eastern province of Anhui, which recorded 1,940mm of rainfall and ranked seventh.