The Weather of June 2009
June 2009 was drier than usual. The total rainfall of 341.8 millimetres in the month was about 12 percent below the normal figure of 388.1 millimetres. The accumulated rainfall since 1 January was 817.5 millimetres, about 22 percent below the normal figure of 1054.7 millimetres for the same period. The mean temperature was 28.1 degrees, 0.2 degrees above the normal figure of 27.9 degrees.
A ridge of high pressure brought mainly fine weather to Hong Kong on the first day of the month. Under the influence of a southerly airstream over the coastal areas of Guangdong, the weather turned cloudy with isolated showers on 2 June. At the same time, a trough of low pressure developed over the northern part of southern China and moved south gradually. It brought heavy rain and squally thunderstorms to the territory on 3 and 4 June. More than 70 millimetres of rainfall were recorded over parts of the New Territories on the morning of 4 June. With the westward extension of the Pacific ridge, local weather turned fine in the afternoon of 4 June. It remained sunny and hot from 5 to 7 June. The temperature at the Hong Kong Observatory rose to a maximum of 32.9 degrees on 6 June, the highest of the month.
A humid maritime airstream dominated over the coastal areas of Guangdong and brought cloudy and showery weather to Hong Kong for the ensuing three days. Affected by an active trough of low pressure over southern China, local weather deteriorated further with occasional rain and squally thunderstorms from 11 to 16 June. A ridge of high pressure developed over southern China on 17 June, bringing fine and hot weather to Hong Kong on that day.
Affected by the subsidence airmass associated with Severe Tropical Storm Linfa over the northern part of the South China Sea, local weather remained sunny and hot apart from a few isolated showers from 18 to 21 June. After Linfa made landfall over Fujian on the night of 21 June, an active southwesterly airstream prevailed over the coastal areas of southern China and brought thundery showers to Hong Kong from 22 to 24 June.
Tropical Storm Nangka entered the South China Sea on the evening of 24 June and edged towards the coast of eastern Guangdong in the next two days. Nangka made landfall over the vicinity of Daya Bay and weakened into an area of low pressure inland Guangdong in the morning of 27 June. Locally, it was mainly cloudy with showers on 25 and 26 June. Affected by the remnants of Nangka, the weather was cloudy with heavy rain and a few squally thunderstorms on 27 and 28 June. The heavy rain eased off and there were sunny periods on 29 June. A ridge of high pressure brought mainly fine and hot weather to the territory on 30 June.
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