Tuesday, June 2, 2009

石湖雷 and strong monsoon

Went to the library in Mong Kok today and saw an interesting book about severe weather in Hong Kong.  (香港天気常識+観测、HK328.0047)

Finally I found something about "shek wu thunder" (石湖雷), apparently it's fisherman's local slangs, it's supposed to describe multiple thunderstorm zones lining up and overlapping into a narrow, long strip of squally area, usually it happens when we have strong SW wind (hence fishermen usually call them 西北石湖.), and it usually brings with it gusts and violent thunders.  They usually move in and out of an area very quickly.

Also, tornados can happen in HK, usually over water, sometimes they don't reach ground/sea level.  I thought I saw a dark column towards the north, descending down from the sky, as I headed out of Tai Tai.  I didn't believe it's possible to have twisters in HK at the time, so I convinced myself that my eyes were playing tricks, and I didn't need to be any more scared than I was.  After reading about them though, I'm pretty sure that's what I saw.  Oh well, it's a big sea, I have to be really unlucky to get hit.  Besides, I knew I was taking risks, I just weighted the risks and decided it was worth it -- and it was, the beautiful army of rain-faeries flying ahead and around me in the mist was worth dying for.

I also read up on monsoon and "strong monsoon."  Apparently, a regular monsoon has offshore wind speed comparable to a T-3, whereas a strong monsoon comes with T-8 strength wind.  My body tingled with excitement when I read that -- because I managed 19K from Fred's to TMT under the influence of a strong monsoon, which means I can probably try out the T-8 water when they come. 

Famous last words, I know, but I can't wait for the T-8 to come.

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