Hong Kong hits 31.1 degrees Celsius, haze to last till later this week: Observatory
Hong Kong has experienced its hottest day of the year so far, with the city's forecaster reporting a temperature of 31.1 degrees Celsius (88 Fahrenheit) at noon on Tuesday.
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Moreover, low visibility sand and dust weather
from the weekend would likely persist until later this week, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, while a doctor warned residents in high-risk groups to reduce their outdoor activities when the air quality was poor.
Yeung Kwok-chung, a senior scientific officer with the Observatory, said the last time that Hong Kong had been affected by such severe hazy weather was 15 years ago.
'Although there is a chance of an easterly wind on Wednesday, where there is a possibility that the current weather situation will slowly ease. This will depend on the strength of the wind and the conditions allowing for the dispersal of the air,' he said on a radio programme on Tuesday.
'There is a chance that this low visibility condition will last until the middle to later parts of this week, which is the Easter holiday.'
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Yeung said the forecaster had recorded visibility levels of about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) on Monday at its Tsim Sha Tsui headquarters between 11am and noon, which rose to about 6km during the latter parts of Monday to Tuesday.
He added that a northeasterly wind in dry conditions across deserts in mainland China led to sand and dirt being thrown up into the atmosphere.
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