Hong Kong says 2024 was its hottest on record

HONG KONG, China — Hong Kong's weather service said Friday that 2024 was the city's hottest year since records began 140 years ago, mirroring a global trend of rising temperatures and extreme weather sparked by climate change.

The Hong Kong Observatory said it "has confirmed that 2024 was the warmest year in Hong Kong since records began in 1884, with an annual mean temperature of 24.8 degrees Celsius (76.6 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.3 degrees above the 1991-2020 normal".

Globally, scientists warn extreme heat will become more frequent and intense because of human-induced climate change.

The United Nations said Monday that 2024 was set to be the hottest year ever recorded worldwide.

Temperatures were higher than normal in all but one month last year, and April and October set new records in monthly mean temperature, the Hong Kong Observatory said Friday.

The Chinese city also saw its warmest autumn on record in 2024, with the mean temperature between September and November at 26.5 degrees Celsius.

The top three warmest years in Hong Kong's history were all recorded after 2018.

Hong Kong is expected to see "normal" to "above normal" temperatures in the first three months of this year, the observatory said.

"Against the backdrop of climate warming, January-March temperatures in Hong Kong exhibit a significant long-term increasing trend," it added.

China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan are among the territories that have seen record-smashing temperatures in 2024.

Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas.

Warmer air can hold more water vapour, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.

Impacts are wide-ranging, deadly and increasingly costly, damaging property and destroying crops.