People wearing face masks walk in the rain at the central district of Hong Kong, May 11, 2022. (KIN CHEUNG / AP)

HONG KONG - After an extremely dry and sunny April, Hong Kong was much cooler than usual in May, the Hong Kong Observatory said on Thursday.

With a stronger than normal northeast monsoon affecting southern China, the city's monthly mean temperature was 25.0 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees below the normal figure of 26.3 degrees, the HKO said. 

May was also wetter than usual with a total rainfall of 436.5 millimeters, about 50 percent above the normal figure of 290.6mm, mainly due to the heavy rains from May 11 to 13.  

The stormy weather on the morning of May 13 also led to the issuance of the first Red Rainstorm Warning Signal of the year

The stormy weather on the morning of May 13 also led to the issuance of the first Red Rainstorm Warning Signal of the year.

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The accumulated rainfall recorded in the first five months of the year was 705.3mm, about 19 percent above the normal figure of 590.9mm for the same period, it added.

The temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory dropped to a minimum of 16.4 degrees in the morning of May 2, the lowest record in May since 1917. The daily mean temperature of 18.5 degrees on that day was also the lowest on record for May.

Apart from a few showers, the weather was generally fine and hot from May 29 to 30. The temperature recorded at the HKO rose to a maximum of 32.7 degrees on the afternoon of May 30, the highest of the month.

There was no tropical cyclone over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in May 2022.

READ MORE: Observatory: Hong Kong's March unseasonably warm