Summer Thunderstorms
 

The weather shows thunderstorms for the next 15 days. Is that all day or minor here and there? I'm there for just 22 hours July 8th to the 9th. Thanks!

Thunderstorms tend to be short and sweet this time of year, but can seriously impact air travel.

Thanks!

They're usually only affecting a small part of the territory at any given time. You can check the HK Observatory website for a map showing where lightning is in real-time.

But don't put much faith in the advance "warning" of thunderstorms given by the HKO. When you hear thunder and check the website, you'll usually find the thunderstorm warning was posted just 5 or 10 minutes earlier.

Groovy, thanks.

Arrived on 18th June for 9 days. Didn't rain once in Kowlooon or Central. The week long forecast said it would rain many days... but they were wrong

Good to know, thanks.

Well no, it rained somewhere in the territory on those days, just not where you were!

The weather in HK is VERY location specific - we have several hill/mountain ranges, and the weather on one side is often completely different from the weather on the other side. The HK Observatory forecast will say "showers"/"rain" if ANY area of HK will get some.

Dunno if this is a trend, but it either doesn't rain or comes down in buckets this year. Drought or microburst.

Does anyone know how often the NYC-HKG routes get delayed or cancelled because of summer storms? I'm mainly interested in the flights usually leave at night (East coast time) and arrive in the morning (HK time).

It sounds like you are traveling with CX.

When a strong typhoon come near Hong Kong, CX's operation will be severely impacted and many flights will be cancelled, delayed, and diverted to TPE/MFM when necessary.

So it is more often than you think that NYC-HKG get impacted.

Why would they divert NYC-HKG to TPE instead of SZX/CAN/SWA/CSX? ZUH is probably out because it doesn't have facilities to process international arrivals, but all of those others are much less farther out of the way than is TPE. Diverting to TPE (or even PVG) would seem far better for SFO/LAX-HKG flights because they approach from the northeast instead of almost due north. Or is it just due to the fact that CX has operations at TPE so it's easier for them to do equipment swaps there if necessary?

When there's a typhoon affecting HK seriously, it's more likely to be affecting Guangzhou as well, more than Taipei.

Also, I suspect -- but don't know -- that bureaucracy for handling diverted flights and passengers is more troublesome in Mainland China than in Taipei.

Remember, too, that much of Chinese airspace is under military restriction; flights can't be all that easily rerouted because of weather. I've always assumed this is one of the reasons flights in China are so prone to weather delays.

CX has proper facilities and staff at TPE. There's dozens of flights each day to accommodate stranded pax if needed. Airports around HKG (such as MFM, SZX or CAN) are likely to be affected by the same weather and can be ill equipped to handle a diverted plane. Others might just be too small for a 777 (ZUH) and with most Chinese airports you always run the risk of getting stuck with a couple of hundred passengers who can't leave the airport due to visa regulations. TPE just makes a whole lot of sense.

As for storms...they are indeed weird so far. Let's see what Typhoon season has in store for us.

Last but not the least - visa issue.