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The effect of climate on human conduct has not yet been reducedto an exact science. But it cannot be entirely disregarded inconsidering the history of Hong Kong ... / am not thinking oftyphoons or similar extravagant outbursts of the weather, butof the ordinary routine of the year; the regular range oftemperature and rainfall; the change of the monsoon; theinvariable sequence of the seasons.G. R. Sayer, Hong Kong 1841-1862, Birth, Adolescence andComing of Age x Hong Kong University Press 1937.
ForewordIhe early section of this book.owes much to RoyalObservatory, Hong Kong: A Brief General History, by thelate Mr. L. Starbuck, Assistant Director, published in 1951.Other extracts have been taken from relevant annualreports of successive Directors of the Royal Observatory.Further references, including those written by Observatorystaff, appear in the bibliography.Thanks are due to Mr. Ian Diamond, Archivist, PublicRecords Office of Hong Kong, and his staff, for assistancewith old newspapers and official documents and letters.When quoting from written sources, only minor changeshave been made in spelling and syntax to make them accordwith modern style. (For example, Hong Kong, instead ofHong-kong or Hongkong. The use of Hong Kong andKowloon as the official spelling of the place names wasofficially adopted in 1926.)If it was believed that a change would affect the sense ofthe original, detract from it, or possibly cause confusion, theoriginal was left intact.This policy has - broadly - been followed with punctuation,bearing in mind the comment by Geoffrey R. Sayer ina note to his An Eastern Entrepot (HMSO, 1964):'Generally the documents have been given as found, butoccasionally some minor editing has been done regardingpunctuation, since many 19th Century officials seem to havehad only a cursory acquaintance with the principles of thatart.'However, to avoid confusion, temperatures are given indegrees Celsius, even for periods long before the officialadoption of the scale in Hong Kong. (For details of thechange, see p. 104).Similarly, wind speeds are expressed in knots. A knot —one nautical mile an hour — is not a metric unit, but is widelyused in meteorology, aviation and seafaring. One nauticalmile is 1.852 kilometres.
Page 2: UNIVERSITY OFHQ,NG KONG>**"/////»I
Page 5: The Royal Observatory, Hong KongJIM
Page 11 and 12: IntroductionIifc on earth is possib
Page 13 and 14: Theories had been developed: as ear
Page 15 and 16: Then came another important scienti
Page 17 and 18: thirty feet high, huge grotesque lo
Page 20 and 21: Ancient Chinese astronomical instru
Page 22 and 23: Chapter 1KSJSJOJ/ do think that, of
Page 24 and 25: work of the observatory made no pro
Page 26 and 27: its physical observations of the ph
Page 28 and 29: period. The main building was recta
Page 30 and 31: on metal pipe frames, were too ligh
Page 32 and 33: Blackhead's Hill (Signal Hill) and
Page 34 and 35: many previous storms when the wind
Page 36 and 37: coast ports and the police in fact
Page 39 and 40: European assistants, at least one o
Page 41 and 42: ... Mr. da Silva has resigned. . .
Page 43 and 44: few minutes' warning of one of the
Page 45: water height by up to several metre
Page 50 and 51: I he early European traders, mercha
Page 52 and 53: the sun's rays in tropical climates
Page 54 and 55: coast; trees are broken or rooted u
Page 56 and 57: Professor S. Wells Williams, anothe
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We had a striking example in Hong K
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Hong Kong lies just within the trop
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Chapter 3OFCOTWETSEverybody talks a
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The sun's disc had a diameter on th
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Such detailed rules failed to impre
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the periods before winter droughts
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crossed into Hong Kong, followed by
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inlet of Tola Harbour in the New Te
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The war in Europe had spurred the d
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Inset: The backs of these cigarette
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It 8 am on 8 December 1941, 12 Japa
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The records are all in pencil, neat
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The civil staff was soon put to the
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The department is in fact primarily
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temperature down to 3J°C at the Ob
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moving directly towards Hong Kong,
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If the weather in 1965 was comparat
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since Typhoon Shirley in 1968. It h
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Radar observations early on 26 July
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almost as accurately as from a reco
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Waves smash over the praya at Kenne
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Chapter 5CLICKINGCCFTHEAt the prese
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November and December are normally
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move them a substantial distance in
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.. . wind blowing through the long
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for a series of fine weather and ca
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The typhoon of Saturday September 2
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Above: How the 1874 typhoon destroy
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Above: Aftermath of the 1923 blow w
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its of storm water which could be s
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he splitting of time into microscop
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The Third Congress of the World Met
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small craft. It includes 24-hour ar
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much of the Observatory's work invo
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The marine meteorology section of t
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The water shortage having become ve
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The signal was received by a helica
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The shock occurring yesterday after
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The Royal Observatory is part of tw
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acquired its own radar, which was u
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grass. Soil temperatures are read f
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* Vertical section through the atmo
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of Mineral Resources recommended a
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Much of Hong Kong's population live
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BibliographyABEL, Clarke, Narrative
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IndexAbel, Clarkevisit to Hong Kong
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Macdonnell, Governor Sir Richard, 2
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