Macau continues to swelter as temperatures soar to 38 degrees

[Photo: Renato Marques]

Macau continued to swelter under extreme heat yesterday as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall in Zhejiang, with its outer circulation continuing to bring hot weather to the city.

The storm’s approach sent temperatures soaring across Macau and Hong Kong over the weekend, while triggering mass flight cancellations and evacuations along China’s east coast before making landfall on Sunday evening.

Macau International Airport said 54 flights were canceled over the past two days due to Typhoon Dolphin, including 38 on Sunday and 16 on Monday, affecting routes between Macau and Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou. The cancellations followed 12 flight cancellations on Friday and Saturday, bringing the total to 66 over four days.

The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) again issued an orange hot weather alert yesterday after several monitoring stations recorded daily high temperatures above 36 degrees Celsius. The Outer Harbour station recorded the highest temperature at 38.1 degrees.

Temperatures at several stations on the Macau Peninsula also exceeded 37 degrees, including those at Sun Yat Sen Park, Areia Preta and Guia Hill. The Taipa Grande station recorded a high of 35.9 degrees.

The bureau forecast sunny and very hot weather through today, with temperatures reaching 36 degrees and urban areas potentially 1 to 2 degrees higher.

The bureau also warned that intense thunderstorms and strong gusts could develop from the afternoon into the evening as high temperatures trigger unstable weather conditions.

The bureau said temperatures are expected to gradually fall as Dolphin weakens.

Hong Kong shattered its official heat record Sunday, with temperatures reaching 36.9 degrees – the highest official reading since records began 142 years ago – as the storm fueled extreme heat across the region. The previous record, 36.6 degrees, was set in August 2017 ahead of Typhoon Hato. LV