Let's talk about the weather

It's about 5 am, and I've been up for a while, after finally getting to sleep at about 2:30. The HKO has posted a T3, and expects to raise it to a T8 bt 5:45. I don't know what it is about the weather in Hong Kong, but it is fantastically exciting. Well, I suppose I do know. It is prone to extremes and it changes rapidly. Typhoons blow up out of nowhere, and come and go within a 2 or 3 day period.

Before I came here, I thought the weather was, well, boring. I was only aware of it when someone said it was going to be particularly cold or hot. But here! For starters, they have an amazing weather warning system. T means 'typhoon', and there are various levels. If it goes beyond 8, you'd better get under the bed. There are also rain warnings - amber, red and black. In the case of black rain, or a T8 warning, all public transportation shuts down, and businesses close up. Every school or workplace has a weather warning policy. There are also landslide, thunderstorm, strong wind, flooding and extreme temperature warnings.

What really makes it thrilling is the Hong Kong Observatory website. http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm It's the most exciting thing on the web, when the weather is astir. I've had it on all day, in the background, and I check it every few minues while at the computer, and every half hour or so when not at the computer. Will the T3 change? When? What other elements will come to the plot? A landslide warning? The Observatory posts comments frequently during action periods, and I can never wait for the next instalment. One of the most exciting aspects of the site is the Cyclone Tracker. You can watch the path of the cyclone, and its expected journey. It's updated frequently, so you are always up to date. If there's a thunderstorm on, look at the lightning tracker, where you can see each place the ground has been struck, within fifteen minutes of it happening. The Observatory also runs seminars for the public - in Cantonese, alas.

In times of peace, there is the Director's blog. I admit it. I read it. I like it. You should read it.

Of course, I'm checking it while I write this, and this was just posted:

At 5 a.m., Severe Tropical Storm Kammuri was estimated to be about 170 kilometres south of Hong Kong (near 20.8 degrees north 114.3 degrees east) and is forecast to move west-northwest at about 14 kilometres per hour, edging closer to Hong Kong.
Local winds continued to strengthen gradually over the past few hours. The Observatory will issue the Gale or Storm Signal No.8 shortly .

The anticipation! The anxiety! I really should get some sleep. I have a lot of school work to do....

I guess Alex won't be going to work at the HKU library today.

I'm going to try and sleep, and ignore the wind banging things around outside....