In this March 25, 2024, photo, boats ply the waters which turned gold with twilight descending upon Hong Kong. (SHAMIM ASHRAF / CHINA DAILY) 

HONG KONG – The people of Hong Kong this year underwent a March much warmer than usual, with the maximum temperature reaching a record high of 31.5 degrees on March 24, breaking the 1973 record for the month. 

The month was also drier than usual with a total rainfall of 21.6 millimeters, about 29 percent of the normal figure of 75.3 millimeters, the government said in a statement on Wednesday citing data from the Hong Kong Observatory. 

The accumulated rainfall recorded in the first three months of the year was 32.4 millimeters, about 78 percent below the normal figure of 147.4 millimeters for the same period, it added.

With the northeast monsoon over the south China coast much weaker than normal in the second half of the month, the weather was cold in the city in early March. But as a whole, the month was much warmer than usual.

According to the government, the monthly mean maximum temperature of 23.9 degrees, monthly mean temperature of 21.1 degrees and monthly mean minimum temperature of 19.1 degrees were 2.0 degrees, 1.6 degrees and 1.5 degrees above their corresponding normal, and one of the sixth, the eighth and one of the eighth highest on record for March respectively.