HONG KONG — August of 2026 will go down as one of the hottest months in Hong Kong's history, with the city enduring heatwaves, record-breaking daily temperatures, and a long stretch of sweltering days, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

The heat culminated on August 9, when the observatory recorded an all‑time high of 36.9 C in the afternoon. Even more striking was the reading in Sheung Shui, which hit 39.8 C, the highest temperature ever recorded anywhere in Hong Kong since automatic weather stations were introduced in the 1980s.

The heat did not relent at night. On August 12, the observatory logged a minimum temperature of 30.2 C, marking the highest daily minimum on record.

For the month as a whole, the monthly mean temperature stood at 29.5 C, with a mean minimum of 27.6 C and a mean maximum of 32.1 C— all exceeding their respective normals by 0.8 degrees, 0.9 degrees and 0.8 degrees. They ranked respectively as one of the third, fourth, and one of the eighth highest on record for August, the HKO said.

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The city also experienced nine consecutive very hot days from August 5 to 13. Among them, three consecutive extremely hot days from August 9 to 11 marked the highest number of extremely hot days and also the longest consecutive extremely hot days for August, it added.

Meteorologists attributed the extreme heat to a combination of warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures over the northern South China Sea, a southwesterly airflow over the southern China coast, and the outer subsiding air from Tropical Cyclone Dolphin.

Despite the scorching August, the summer as a whole — from June to August — was only slightly hotter than usual, with a mean temperature of 28.9 C, 0.2 degrees above the normal for the same period.

This was partly because the observatory recorded maximum temperatures below 30 C for nine consecutive days from July 26 to August 3 — a rare occurrence during the usually hot summer months of July and August, with the last occurrence dating back to August 1937.

Meanwhile, rainfall in August totaled 380.0 millimeters, about 16 percent below the normal figure of 453.2 mm. However, the first eight months of the year were wetter than usual, with accumulated rainfall of 2,357.6 mm, which is roughly 23 percent above the norm of 1,921.5 mm for the same period.