Wednesday’s forecast of severe squally thunderstorms in Hong Kong could upset plans for the city to host a fireworks display intended to welcome mainland Chinese tourists visiting for the Labour Day “golden week” holiday.
The Hong Kong Observatory said in the morning that a trough of low pressure was bringing heavy showers and thunderstorms to Guangdong and nearby waters.
The forecaster extended a thunderstorm issued at 7.17pm on Tuesday until 10am on Wednesday.
“Locally, about 30mm of rainfall were recorded over many places this morning, and rainfall even exceeded 50mm over Sai Kung,” it said.
Hongkongers can expect cloudy weather with showers and severe squally thunderstorms on Wednesday, with moderate east to northeasterly winds that at times may turn gusty.
Temperatures are expected to fall between 22 and 25 degrees Celsius (71.6 and 77 Fahrenheit).
The unstable weather marked a wet start to the mainland’s golden week holiday on Wednesday, as Hong Kong expected to welcome at least 800,000 visitors from across the border throughout the break.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu earlier said authorities were ready for the holiday, vowing to tell the public as soon as possible about any changes to the fireworks display along Victoria Harbour.
The display will be the first in a series of similar events announced in Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s latest budget, with Wednesday’s show including patterns such as smiley faces and the letters “HK” as the pyrotechnics soar up to 100 metres (328 feet) into the night sky.
Rockie Ip Ting-kwok, director of operations of the Harbour Cruise – Bauhinia, told a radio programme on Wednesday that customers who bought tickets to the display could opt for a refund or reschedule, or still join the cruise trips and get back the price difference.
But he said planned cruise trips would not be cancelled unless a No 8 typhoon signal was issued, noting there were still other things to see, such as the installation of illuminated egg-shaped objects lighting up the Victoria Harbour.
Each cruise could carry 350 to 400 people, and the current booking rate was about 200 each, he added.
The Observatory said that occasional rainfall and thunderstorms were forecast for Thursday, as well as a few showers over the following couple of days.
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The forecaster previously issued a warning at 10pm on Tuesday that hail had been reported in the Pearl River Delta region.
Security camera footage from Shan Ha Road in Yuen Long circulating online showed hail falling amid torrential rain at around 9.30pm.
Hong Kong issued an amber rainstorm warning at 9.30pm that day, which ran until 11pm.
The city also recorded more than 6,100 cloud-to-ground lightning strokes on Tuesday night.
