Climate Change in Hong Kong - Tropical Cyclones

Modulated by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), there are strong inter-annual and inter-decadal variations in the tropical cyclone activity in the South China Sea. Regarding tropical cyclones affecting Hong Kong, analysis of the Hong Kong Observatory tropical cyclone records shows that both the number of tropical cyclones entering the 500 km range of Hong Kong and the number of tropical cyclones landing within 300 km of Hong Kong have a long term decreasing trend, but these trends are not statistically significant at 5% level.

Annual number of tropical cyclones (including tropical depressions)
entering the 500 km range of Hong Kong from 1961 to 2024
(based on the Hong Kong Observatory tropical cyclone database).

Annual number of tropical cyclones (including tropical depressions)
landing within 300 km of Hong Kong from 1961 to 2024
(based on the Hong Kong Observatory tropical cyclone database).