Hongkongers sweated through the hottest day of the year on Friday, with the Observatory (HKO) recording a maximum temperature of 34.6 degrees Celsius at its headquarters.

The mercury neared 37 degrees Celsius in the northern part of the territory.

Meanwhile, the Observatory noted 1,263 instances of cloud-to-ground lightning on Friday, and 4,859 cases of cloud-to-cloud lightning.

The city is now set to see nine days of rain, the weather service predicts.

See also: How Hong Kong’s elderly face deadly heat inside cramped cage homes

“A broad trough of low pressure will linger over the vicinity of the coast of southern China to the northern part of the South China Sea during the weekend to midweek next week,” the Observatory said.

The amber rainstorm warning was raised at 10am on Saturday as violent gusts swept into the territory, raising the risk of flooding.

See also: NGO warns hot weather can worsen air quality, urges gov’t action on pollutants and cooling measures in hot districts

Climate crisis

Friday marked the hottest “Grain in Ear” solar term ever documented. The ninth traditional solar term, known in Chinese as Mangzhong, signifies a period when awny crops like wheat are ready to harvest.

This week, environmental NGO Friends of the Earth urged the Hong Kong government to prioritise the climate crisis and strengthen its climate adaptation policies, with the city expected to endure an extremely hot summer.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the intensity and frequency of heatwaves have continued to increase since the 1950s due to human-caused climate change. The prevalence of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide – which trap heat in the atmosphere – raises the planet’s surface temperature, with hotter, longer heatwaves putting lives at risk.

See also: How extreme heat became the deadliest silent killer among world weather disasters

Hong Kong has already warmed by 1.7 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, research NGO Berkeley Earth says. Heat and humidity may reach lethal levels for protracted periods by the end of the century, according to a 2023 study, making it impossible to stay outdoors in some parts of the world.

Three decades before the entertainment press started showering Zoë Kravitz and Harry Styles with praise every time they made an appearance, the actress’s father Lenny Kravitz and his girlfriend at the time, singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, were making headlines for the same reason. Their capacity to coordinate outfits without trying, the way they represented cool without looking for it, and a relationship so discreet it rendered each appearance together a news event, made them one of the most enigmatic couples of the 1990s. Now that the musician’s only daughter has gotten engaged to the former One Direction singer, with each of their paparazzi shots apparently worthy of stylistic autopsy, it seems relevant to look at the intimacy of this relatively short-lived pair — they were together for five years, from 1992 to 1997 — who are nonetheless worthy of posterity, for rather obvious reasons. Both were famous, hot, and rich, but their connection didn’t manage to survive the demands of top-speed personal and professional trajectories.

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Hong Kong sweltered on Friday, with temperatures exceeding 36 degrees Celsius in the northern New Territories by mid-afternoon.

Acting Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) Choy Chun-wing told RTHK on Friday that minimum temperatures remained at, or above, 28 degrees Celsius over the past six days – matching a record seen in mid-May 2021. The longest continuous record could be broken by the weekend.

The HKO has suggested some relief from the weeklong heatwave is in store, with rain predicted for the weekend.

“The anticyclone aloft will weaken tomorrow, while upper-air disturbances will bring showers and thunderstorms to Guangdong. An easterly airstream will affect the coast of Guangdong in the next couple of days. High temperature weather will be alleviated,” the weather service said on Friday.

But it added that high temperatures may soon return. “With the easterly airstream being replaced by a southerly airstream early next week, the weather over the coastal areas will be very hot again midweek next week.”

See also: How extreme heat became the deadliest silent killer among world weather disasters

At a Thursday press briefing, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association’s CEO Maura Wong said that it had handled over 7,700 heat-related emergency assistance cases requiring hospitalisation last summer.

“The Association urges the elderly to take precautions against the heat during the height of summer, and carers should also take a more proactive role in looking after the elderly by providing timely care and support,” she said.

At the same event, the HKO’s Choy warned that sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific are predicted to continue rising, with an El Niño event set to develop in the summer and autumn.

See also: How Hong Kong’s elderly face deadly heat inside cramped cage homes

Stronger El Niño events often increase the likelihood of abnormally high temperatures across different regions. Choy warned of a high chance that this summer would be among Hong Kong’s 10 hottest on record.

The Labour Department hoisted the amber Heat Stress at Work Warning on Friday, urging employers to conduct risk assessments for staff who work outdoors or in non-air-conditioned environments.

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When Frode Bolhuis got his start as a sculptor, he worked classically, with monumental figures made of bronze and metal—the kind of thing you see in a public square or park. But then the Dutch sculptor discovered the simplest of mediums, polymer clay, and his art practice exploded into a technicolor world of hue and […]

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