The following are the figures for the island of Hong Kong for the year 1901, as I am unable to discover any collated statistics.
| Hong Kong. Lat. 22° 12′ N., Long. 114° 13′ E. Near Sea-level. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly Maxima | Monthly Minima | Relative Humidity | Monthly Rainfall | |||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | Ins. | Mm. | ||
| January | 68·5 | 20·3 | 62·5 | 16·9 | 83 | 0·68 | 17·4 |
| February | 59·5 | 13·3 | 50·5 | 10·3 | 48 | 0·76 | 19·3 |
| March | 67·9 | 19·9 | 60·4 | 15·7 | 77 | 1·27 | 32·1 |
| April | 75·4 | 24·1 | 69·1 | 20·7 | 89 | 9·03 | 229·9 |
| May | 81·8 | 27·7 | 73·7 | 23·2 | 85 | 14·10 | 358·1 |
| June | 85·9 | 29·9 | 78·2 | 25·7 | 80 | 2·33 | 59·7 |
| July | 87·0 | 30·6 | 78·5 | 25·8 | 81 | 5·58 | 141·0 |
| August | 85·7 | 29·8 | 76·9 | 24·9 | 84 | 14·00 | 355·6 |
| September | 86·0 | 30·0 | 76·4 | 24·6 | 76 | 3·89 | 99·1 |
| October | 82·6 | 28·2 | 73·6 | 23·2 | 68 | 2·50 | 63·5 |
| November | 75·4 | 24·1 | 64·9 | 18·2 | 64 | 0·77 | 19·5 |
| December | 66·9 | 19·3 | 57·5 | 14·2 | 66 | 0·83 | 21·2 |
In the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, vol. i., No. 1, Major S. F. Clark writes: “The climate of Hong Kong varies in the different places. At the Peak, 1,500 feet above the sea, it is always bearable in summer, and is quite crisp in winter, an occasional film of ice being sometimes visible in the mornings. In fact, if one had not to descend to the lower levels for work, it would be no hardship to live at the Peak, where the fog is really the main trouble. Children do well up there, but get very white down below.
“In the city the summer is very trying. From May to September, both inclusive, the sun is strong—reaching 94° or so in July and August—and the humidity of the air is practically at saturation point. With the breeze cut off by the Peak the situation is thus by no means pleasant, and cases of heat apoplexy always occur at this time. The temperature averages 86° to 88° during these months, and the nights also are stiflingly hot. By the help of punkahs, electric fans, rickshaws and chairs, the work of the colony goes on. The summer is also the rainy and typhoon season, and these visitations luckily cool the air for some days. The rain is very heavy at times, but of late years droughts have prevailed. For the other seven months the climate is not unpleasant, and in December, January and February, is quite cold, without reaching freezing point. The humidity of the air, however, is always considerable. This dampness of the air, especially foggy weather at the Peak, is very destructive to clothing, books, &c., and tin-lined boxes are essential. Ladies’ garments require much care to preserve them from destruction.”
It is, however, fortunately possible for most people to live at “the Peak,” between which and the town there is frequent communication by means of cable tram.
Considering that Hong Kong lies well to the south of Calcutta, it must be confessed that the climate is wonderfully good, and one cannot but think that Major Clark would wish himself back in Hong Kong were he to negotiate an exchange to almost any station in the plains of India.
On the mainland, at Canton, the climate is much less uniform, the north-east wind of the cold season rendering the nights singularly cold for so southerly a position.
The China seas are visited by revolving storms of a most violent character, known locally as typhoons, but as in those of the Bay of Bengal, their more serious effects do not appear to extend far inland.
The Island of Formosa, with a mean annual temperature of 74·6° F. (23·7° C.), has a typically marine climate, the difference between the coldest and hottest months, February and June, being but from 67·7° F. (19·8° C.) to 81° F. (27·1° C.), or only 13·5° F. (7·3° C.). The south-west monsoon bursts towards the end of May, and the rainfall, especially in the north of the island, is very heavy and evenly distributed, though there is a distinct dry, winter season in the south, as may be seen by the contrast of the rainfall of the following two Formosan stations—Kilung, in lat. 25° 8′ N., and Takao Anping, in 22° 47′ N. (Hann).
| Rainfall in the Island of Formosa. | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | April | May | June | July | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | ||||
| Kilung | - | Ins. | 17·53 | 14·98 | 14·98 | 8·68 | 10·74 | 9·33 | 7·72 | 7·53 | 16·53 | 9·84 | 11·61 | 11·63 | |
| Mm. | 445 | 379 | 379 | 220 | 273 | 237 | 196 | 191 | 420 | 249 | 294 | 294 | |||
| Takao | - | Ins. | 6·67 | 0·58 | 1·64 | 2·48 | 9·45 | 13·58 | 14·65 | 14·63 | 4·69 | 1·54 | 0·49 | 1·08 | |
| Mm. | 17 | 13 | 41 | 63 | 240 | 345 | 372 | 370 | 119 | 39 | 12 | 27 | |||