earth science

Weather Underground of Hong Kong

Weather Underground of Hong Kong is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Weather Underground of Hong Kong rather than just read about it. In short: Weather Underground of Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港地下天文台; pinyin: xiānggǎng dìxià tiānwéntái) is a non-profit website established in 1995 and directed by Clarence Fong Chi-kong. The website provides a wide range of information related to weather and climate.

Key takeaways

Weather Underground of Hong Kong belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Weather Underground of Hong Kong to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Weather Underground of Hong Kong from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Weather Underground of Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港地下天文台; pinyin: xiānggǎng dìxià tiānwéntái) is a non-profit website established in 1995 and directed by Clarence Fong Chi-kong. The website provides a wide range of information related to weather and climate. Air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, rain, and wind chill can be found on the site. Radar and satellite views are also included in order to provide more comprehensive weather data to users. Information about local weather comes mainly from the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), which collects data from foreign weather organizations, for example, satellite data originate from the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan. Weather Underground also established a forum, weather forecasting competition, blog and Facebook page to provide a platform for weather enthusiasts around the globe. Since the establishment of the website, it has attracted over 100 million views worldwide, becoming the most popular weather-related website beside Hong Kong Observatory.

Background

Formation Weather Underground was established in 1995 by Clarence Fong Chi-kong, in order to provide a communication platform for weather enthusiasts and experts to interact with each other. It is the first non-profit weather website in Hong Kong, subsequently becoming a community. It aims to provide wider perspectives of weather information, introduces the latest technologies, and encourages the official meteorological authority, Hong Kong Observatory, to update its technology to provide better services to Hongkongers. By providing information from the Hong Kong Observatory as well as other meteorological and research institutions around the world, weather enthusiasts and experts can access the information for comparison and analysis to get a more complete picture of the weather. Weather Underground also provides exclusive information including weather indices (heat index, wind chill, K index, etc.), surface and upper-level SYNOP reports for Hong Kong, upper-level weather maps for East Asia, lightning location and atmospheric electric field maps, and maps of tropical cyclone forecast tracks by different countries. Weather Underground also provides a discussion forum in both Chinese and English for weather enthusiasts and experts around the globe to gather and share their ideas on weather, climate, and other related topics.

Founder Clarence Fong Chi-kong is the founder and current director of Weather Underground of Hong Kong. Fong was an experimental officer at the Hong Kong Observatory, and is currently a committee member of the Hong Kong Meteorological Society.

Development

Website Originally the website was updated twice a day at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., but updates are now provided automatically every 10 minutes. In August 2007, the website of Weather Underground changed its layout and increased the information provided: current warning animation, 7-Day weather forecast, and everyday climatology were added.

Other media A blog, ”氣象‧人‧語”, was established in May 2005 in order to share extra weather information and knowledge on weather and climate. In December 2012, the blog became a special column in Yahoo! Hong Kong. A Facebook page for Weather Underground (香港地下天文台) was created in March 2011. The page will update if there are any weather events and warnings, such as typhoons, rainstorms, monsoons, and earthquakes.

Activities

Weather Forecasting Contest The Weather Forecasting Contest is a competition held by Weather Underground. For each round of the contest, participants have to forecast the four elements listed below on Sunday or before 23:59:59 every Friday:

Minimum and maximum temperatures over Hong Kong territory, Minimum and maximum relative humidity at the Hong Kong Observatory, Rainfall amount at the Hong Kong Observatory, Sunshine duration at King's Park, maximum UV index at King's Park Daily weather summaries issued by the Hong Kong Observatory will be used for verification. If data are missing for any parameter, all forecasts for that parameter will be considered accurate. The round of the weather forecasting contest lasts for about 12 weeks.

Member gatherings Weather Underground emphasizes communication between members. Hence, they have several meetings and gatherings. Below is the information of some of recent gatherings:

Meetings with Hong Kong Observatory In order to improve the services provided by the Hong Kong Observatory, Weather Underground has regular meetings with the observatory.

Achievements In August 2006, Typhoon Prapiroon neared Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Observatory refused to raise the typhoon signal no. 8. This decision triggered intense public discussions. Weather Underground published a report later on, questioning the validity of the Tropical Cyclone Warning System for Hong Kong. This led to the revision of the system by The Hong Kong Observatory in 2007.

References

External links (in English) Weather Underground of Hong Kong (Main) Weather Underground of Hong Kong (Mirror) (in English) Going Down A Storm, South China Morning Post (in English) Homepages Offer A Wealth Information about Hong Kong's Climate Conditions, South China Morning Post (in Chinese) Weather Blogger 氣象．人．語　地下天文台長的工作室 (in Chinese) 赤子童心與玉壺冰心　地下天文台長方志剛《中大校友》第五十一期 (in Chinese) 地下測天評風雨，方志剛專訪，2006年8月13日明報 A12版

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Weather Underground of Hong Kong

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Weather Underground of Hong Kong claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Weather Underground of Hong Kong before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Weather Underground of Hong Kong ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Weather Underground of Hong Kong

In research: Weather Underground of Hong Kong appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Weather Underground of Hong Kong in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Weather Underground of Hong Kong is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Climate of Hong Kong, Meteorological companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Weather Underground of Hong Kong outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Weather Underground of Hong Kong in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Weather Underground of Hong Kong means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Weather Underground of Hong Kong out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Weather Underground of Hong Kong in simple terms?

Why does Weather Underground of Hong Kong matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Weather Underground of Hong Kong?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Weather Underground of Hong Kong.