| Year |
Events |
| 1883 |
Hong Kong Observatory was established.
|
| 1884 |
Regular meteorological observations commenced.
Tropical cyclone warning system - the earliest marine meteorological service - was instituted.
A visual system of tropical cyclone warning signals in the shape of drums and cones was in place to inform masters of vessels leaving the port of Hong Kong about the position and movement of typhoons.This system was replaced by a ten-symbol system in 1917 until it was completely dispensed with in June 1961.
|
| 1885 |
The time ball was dropped for the first time at the Police Station at Tsim Sha Tsui.
|
| 1892 |
Port meteorological service commenced.
Weather forecasts for the following 24 hours were sent daily to the newspapers in time for insertion in the extra-number issued by about noon.
|
| 1908 |
Weather reports from ships were received by wireless telegraphy.
The new time-ball tower on Signal Hill (also known as Tai Pau Mai or Blackhead Point) at Tsimshatsui replaced the time-ball tower at the Tsimshatsui Marine Police Station.With the introduction and wider use of time signals on radio broadcast, the time ball was dismantled on 30 June 1933.
|
| 1915 |
Wireless broadcast of marine weather forecasts commenced. |
| 1917 |
A visual system of tropical cyclone warning signals to indicate the wind likely to be experienced locally in Hong Kong was introduced in July. It replaced the typhoon gun (audio) local storm signal which was operated since 1884. This visual system marks the origin of the current tropical cyclone warning system.
|
| 1921 |
Pilot balloon observations began.
Seismological measurement began.
|
| 1928 |
Broadcast of weather forecasts on Radio Hong Kong began.
|
| 1937 |
Aviation weather service commenced. |
| 1948 |
Hong Kong joined the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), predecessor of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). |
| 1949 |
Radiosonde and radarsonde ascents began. |
| 1953 |
Radio Hong Kong began broadcasting hourly six-pip time signal provided by the Observatory on 11 April 1953. |
| 1959 |
The first weather radar was installed. |
| 1961 |
Measurement of atmospheric radioactivity began. |
| 1964 |
Reception of Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) signal from polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. |
| 1966 |
Direct broadcasting of a 6-pip time signal from the Observatory on 95 MHz commenced in 1966, and was terminated on 16 September 1989.The broadcast of the Observatory's 6 pip time-signal by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) continues to this date.
|
| 1967 |
Started issuing thunderstorm warning and heavy rain warning. |
| 1973 |
The first computer system was installed. |
| 1975 |
Hong Kong completely integrated into WMO's Global Telecommunications System (GTS) with three point-to-point circuits :-
Hong Kong - Tokyo (1969)
Hong Kong - Bangkok (1970)
Hong Kong - Beijing (1975)
The development of the first numerical weather prediction model started.
|
| 1977 |
Reception of low-resolution satellite images from Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) of Japan Meteorological Agency.
Started issuing landslip warning.
|
| 1979 |
A network of three short-period seismograph stations was established.
A numerical weather prediction model (the balanced barotropic model) was first operated on a routine basis.
Reception of high-resolution satellite images from Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) of Japan Meteorological Agency.
Five anemometers were installed over Kowloon city area and the runway at Kai Tak International Airport for experimental windshear detection over the airport.
|
| 1980 |
A timing system based on a Caesium Beam Atomic Clock was acquired.
|
| 1983 |
Provided 3-day weather forecasts. |
| 1984 |
The first two Automatic Weather Stations were established at the Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters and Sha Tin for providing public weather services. Another one was put into operation at Chek Lap Kok for providing aviation weather services.
The Observatory's real-time rainfall data acquisition system started operation.
Signed an agreement with Guangdong Meteorological Bureau on Mutual Co-operation to jointly Establish an Automatic Weather Station.
|
| 1985 |
The first automatic weather station jointly built by the Hong Kong Observatory and the Guangdong Meteorological Bureau, commenced operation at Haungmao Zhou.
Dial-a-weather system was installed for the public.
The Radiation Laboratory at King's Park was established.
|
| 1987 |
The Environmental Radiation Monitoring Programme was established.
Observatory's scientific officers began hosting TV weather programmes.
|
| 1988 |
A new numerical weather prediction model (the Limited Area Model) focusing on small scale weather disturbances affecting Hong Kong and its vicinity was implemented.
Weather information and forecast for 23 world cities was sent to Government Information Services and Radio Television Hong Kong for dissemination to the media and public.
|
| 1990 |
The Monitoring and Assessment Centre (radiological) was established. |
| 1992 |
A colour coded Rainstorm Warning System was introduced. |
| 1993 |
Measurement of ozone and radioactivity in the upper atmosphere were started. |
| 1994 |
The first Doppler weather radar started operation. |
| 1996 |
The Observatory home page was implemented on the Internet.
The "Friends of the Observatory" was established to enhance communication with the public and promote public understanding of weather services.
|
| 1997 |
The seismological network was upgraded to a digital network with eight stations. |
| 1998 |
The interactive Information Enquiry System (IES) was introduced for the public.
A Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) began operational use at the Hong Kong International Airport, providing up-to-the-minute windshear and turbulence alerts to aircraft.
Range of forecast period for public weather forecast extended to 4 days.
Aviation meteorological service was moved from the old airport at Kai Tak to the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok in July 1998.
|
| 1999 |
The Observatory's new Weather Radar System at Tai Mo Shan was commissioned, providing high-resolution radar data for effective monitoring of severe weather systems.
A super-computer was acquired for the operation of a high resolution numerical weather prediction system (Operational Regional Spectral Model) and to enhance the capability of rainstorm forecasting.
Cold Weather Warning was introduced.
Provision of UV index commenced.
|
| 2000 |
A resource centre was established in a commercial building near the Observatory for easy access by the public to obtain information and publications.
A high performance server cluster was delivered to enhance the capability in meteorological data processing.
Operation of 5-day weather forecast commenced.
Very Hot Weather Warning was introduced.
|
| 2001 |
The Observatory's website was enhanced to improve accessibility for the visually impaired by providing text-based and audio format web pages. WAP version of the website was also launched for mobile phone users.
A satellite reception system was installed to receive high-resolution cloud pictures from polar-orbiting satellites.
The first weather buoy in Hong Kong commenced operation.
The last operating signal station at Cheung Chau closed down. It marked the end of an era of signal dissemination through signal stations.
Forecast of annual rainfall and the number of tropical cyclones affecting Hong Kong was made available to the public.
|
| 2002 |
The "World Weather Information Service" web site, which was developed and hosted by the Observatory under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), was launched. This was the first international Internet web site of official weather forecasts for cities around the world.
The Observatory installed the world's first LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) system for use in airport weather alerts at Chek Lap Kok.
Hong Kong Observatory was awarded an ISO 9001:2000 certificate in recognition of the quality of its international aviation weather service. The Observatory is one of the first weather services in the Asia and Pacific region to be awarded an ISO certification.
|
| 2003 |
Automatic weather reports were successfully received for the first time from computers on board commercial aircraft.
The computer system of the Observatory's weather nowcasting system was upgraded. It processed more real time meteorological data and implemented more sophisticated algorithms, thereby improving the quality of forecast products.
In response to the IT policy of the Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Observatory's website adopted the "Common Look and Feel" design.
The Observatory offered weather information in eXtensible Markup Language.
Range of forecast period for public weather forecast extended to 7 days.
|
| 2004 |
The first automatic Upper-air Sounding System in Southeast Asia began operation.
A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Website was launched.
Time information of the Observatory's atomic clock was provided to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), contributing to determining the co-ordinated universal time (UTC).
Hong Kong hosted the 13th session of Regional Association II (Asia) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The Observatory became the first weather service in Asia to operationally receive and disseminate automatic weather reports from commercial aircraft.
For the first time, the Observatory provided site-specific weather forecasts and other support services to the Hong Kong Olympic windsurfing team competing in the Olympic Games.
The Observatory announced its assessment of temperature projection in 21st century in Hong Kong.
|
| 2005 |
The Observatory set up a lightning location network in cooperation with the Guangdong Meteorological Bureau and the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau, and launched the lightning location information service.
The Observatory announced its assessment of rainfall projection in Hong Kong in the next 100 years.
The Observatory represented the World Meteorological Organization to take part in the establishment of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean and to help with recovery of Pakistan after a disastrous earthquake.
The world's first LIDAR Windshear Alerting System developed by the Observatory for providing windshear warning service began operation at the Hong Kong International Airport.
The two websites on worldwide official weather forecasts and warnings viz. World Weather Information Service (WWIS) and the Severe Weather Information Centre (SWIC), developed and operated by the Hong Kong Observatory on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations, started formal operation.
The Observatory commenced reception of satellite images from geostationary meteorological satellites in Fengyun-2 series of China and Japan's "Multi-functional Transport Satellite-1R (MTSAT-1R)".
|
| 2006 |
The Observatory launched the Ultraviolet (UV) Index forecast service to facilitate the public to consider appropriate protective measures against UV.
The Observatory installed a second LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) system at the Hong Kong International Airport to enhance the windshear alerting service.
In May 2006, the Hong Kong Observatory took part in a Pacific-wide tsunami exercise organised by the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System, the first of its kind since the System was established more than 40 years ago.
In June 2006, two sets of real-time Heat Stress Measurement System, developed by the Hong Kong Observatory for the 2008 Olympic Equestrian Events, were installed at the Hong Kong Sports Institute at Shatin and Beas River Riding School at Sheung Shui respectively.
On 26 December 2006, a severe earthquake occurred over the Luzon Strait and generated a small tsunami. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a Tsunami Information Bulletin for the first time in history.
The World Weather Information Service and Severe Weather Information Centre websites operated by HKO on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization adopted the worldweather.wmo.int and severe.worldweather.wmo.int domain names which signified their international status of these websites.
In late 2006, a suite of global-regional spectral models was successfully implemented in the Hong Kong Observatory for climate prediction studies. Seasonal forecast was made available to the public.
|
| 2007 |
The number of near sea level wind reference stations for issuing No. 3 and No. 8 tropical cyclone warnings was increased to 8, covering the entire territory of Hong Kong.
The Director of the Hong Kong Observatory chaired some of the meetings of the WMO Congress in May, the highest-level WMO meetings ever chaired by a member of the Observatory.
Launch of the Hong Kong Community Weather Information Network, making available to the public on the internet weather information collected by local schools and organization.
The "One District One Station" project was launched with the establishment of an automatic weather station at Central and Western District at Hong Kong Park . The objective is to set up at least one automatic weather station to measure the temperature in each of Hong Kong's 18 districts.
|
| 2008 |
The first regional temperature forecast launched on the Observatory's website.
A second solar radiation station in Hong Kong set up at Kau Sai Chau, Saigon, to supplement the station at King's Park, which is becoming affected by urban development.
The Airport Thunderstorm & Lightning Alerting System was launched.
The Observatory provided site- and time-specific weather forecast for the first Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian events ever held in Hong Kong.
An updated temperature projection to the end of 21st century in Hong Kong based on IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report was published.
|
| 2009 |
The Observatory further categorised 'Typhoon' into 'Typhoon', 'Severe Typhoon' and 'Super Typhoon' to heighten people's alertness of stronger typhoons.
The Observatory successfully registered a patent in Hong Kong for its in-house developed "Heat Stress Monitoring System".
The Observatorys Radiation Laboratory received ISO 9001:2008 accreditation for its radiation measurement services.
The Observatory launched a corporate website on YouTube to facilitate the sharing of videos produced or co-produced by the Observatory.
The Observatory provided real-time weather service in support of the 2009 East Asian Games.
The LIDAR Windshear Alerting System (LIWAS) extended its operation to provide windshear alerts for all arrival and departure runway corridors at the Hong Kong International Airport.
The Observatory started measurement of carbon dioxide concentration at King's Park Meteorological Station.
|
| 2010 |
The Observatory's Assistant Director was elected President of Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology of the World Meteorological Organization, leading the development of aviation weather service worldwide.
The Observatory started to disseminate weather warnings to the public through the social networking website Twitter, and launched the mobile device application 'MyObservatory' to provide weather information to people on the move.
A new high-performance computer system, the Numerical weather prediction Integrated Computing Environment (NICE), was commissioned, allowing generation of weather forecasts with high spatial and temporal resolution. A 'Digital Weather Forecast' product was made available on the Observatory's website to provide prediction of hourly changes in temperature, wind direction and speed at a resolution of ten kilometres in Hong Kong and the neighbouring Pearl River Delta region.
The Observatory rendered meteorological support to the 2010 Shanghai World EXPO, New Delhi Commonwealth Games and Guangzhou Asian Games. The future version of the World Weather Information Service website developed by the Observatory on behalf of World Meteorological Organization was featured at the Meteorological Pavilion in the Shanghai EXPO.
The Observatory completed the 'One District One Station' programme, with at least one weather station measuring temperature in each of the 18 districts in Hong Kong.
A Liaison Group for the Shipping Community was established to enhance communication between the Observatory and the shipping sector.
The Observatory commissioned the Po Shan Seismograph Station to enhance monitoring of earthquakes in the South China Sea. The station became a member of the Global Seismographic Network, contributing to global earthquake detection.
The Observatory conducted a geomagnetic survey to meet the needs of civil aviation.
The Observatory started measurement of carbon dioxide concentration monitoring at the background station at Hok Tsui.
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