Abstract
This study aims to examine the effect of El Niño and La Niña on the monthly and seasonal climate of Hong Kong against the ENSO-neutral situation from a statistical perspective. Monthly and seasonal temperature and rainfall of Hong Kong and monthly number of tropical cyclones (TCs) coming within 500 km of the city over the 59-yr (1950–2008) period are examined under three ENSO situations, namely El Niño, La Niña, and ENSO-neutral. It is found that, compared with the ENSO-neutral situation, El Niño tends to be associated with wetter winter (December–February) and spring (March-May) while La Niña tends to be associated with cooler autumn (September–November) and winter. El Niño tends to be associated with a later start of the tropical cyclone season of Hong Kong while La Niña tends to be associated with more TCs coming within 500 km of Hong Kong in August–October. It is also found that, for April and June-December, although the monthly number of TCs coming within 500 km of Hong Kong during El Niño is generally lower than that under the ENSO-neutral situation, the difference is not statistically significant based on the current data sample size.
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Lee, Sm., Cheng, Yl. An examination of ENSO’s effect on the monthly and seasonal climate of Hong Kong from a statistical perspective. Acta Meteorol Sin 25, 34–50 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-011-0003-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-011-0003-1