Ordinary Gweilo

Thunderstorm warnings still annoy me.  There’s been one in force all day today, but actually if you look at the Lightning Location Information from the Hong Kong Observatory you will see that there hasn’t been any lightning over Hong Kong for nearly two hours (up to 7pm).  So what are we being warned about?

I get annoyed mainly because most private swimming pools close when the warning is raised.  However, government-run swimming pools stay open, which suggests that they must think it is safe (I think they reserve the right to ask you to leave the pool if a bolt of lightning strikes a slumbering lifeguard, thereby waking him up).

There may possibly be some good news because the Observatory’s lightning location site is being upgraded  (press release):

An alert will be provided automatically when there is lightning within a 15km range of the specified location. The new service is to help the public assess the risk of lightning during outdoor activities.

Well, I hope swimming pool operators will take notice of this and only close pools when there is a real risk of lightning in the near vicinity.

It seems to me that Hong Kong has gone way over-the-top in its response to perceived weather threats.  Of course it makes sense to take precautions when there are 200 lightning strikes in an hour (as was the case this morning), but when there are a handful out at sea or across the border, what’s there to worry about?

Only a few weeks ago, the Jockey Club ended up with large quantities of egg on their face after cancelling a race meeting because of a storm on a Saturday (accompanied by a no.8 signal), only to find that it was long gone by the time racing was due to start on Sunday. 

In fact, it’s not unusual for everyone to rush home when the no.8 signal is raised and find that there is nothing worse than heavy rain and some wind.  It can be quite surreal walking around a busy area such as Causeway Bay an hour or two after the signal is raised to find that the place is almost deserted (apart from TV crews trying to film the bad weather). 

[Later] Ho hum.  There were no thunderstorms between 5 pm and 7 pm, and only six between 7 pm and 8 pm.  Now we have an amber rainstorm warning in force.  Which is fair enough, but why not lower the thunderstorm warning in the early evening when there weren’t any storms?