Our Activities > "Astronomical, Geographic and Meteorological Events of the 2010s" Election [Refresh] [¤¤¤å]
Latest news: The results of the election have been released.
 Election Results |
The results of the election are available here.
| The Poll of the Decade |
Over the past decade, Hong Kong Weather Watch have been holding annual "Astronomical, Geographic and Meteorological Events" elections. The 2010s have officially come to a close with the arrival of 2020. We are now holding the "Events of the Decade" election for you to recollect the most unforgettable moments between 2010 and 2019.
The events in this poll are selected from the top ten events in the past ten years of the annual election. Due to an imbalance of the number of astronomical, geographic and meteorological events available, the current election is divided into the following four categories:
- Hong-Kong-related tropical cyclone events;
- Hong-Kong-related other meteorological events;
- Meteorological events outside Hong Kong (including tropical cyclones);
- Astronomical and geographic events (anywhere in the world).
In each category, ten events with the highest percentages of votes received in the past ten years are listed in the poll.
(The organizer would like to thank HKSON for creating the banner for the election, and MET WARN, Weblog 1097 and Modern Observatory for promoting the event. Banner design is from Freepik.)
| Voting Procedures and Other Information |
The voting information is as follows:
- The voting period is from July 1, 2020 00:00 HKT to August 15, 2020 23:59 HKT.
- You can vote for at most three events in each category. It is also possible to skip a certain category that you do not want to cast your vote on.
- We suggest that you use the following "Click here for the voting page" button to access the voting page. To avoid duplicates, voters using this option will have to log in to their Google account. The organizer will not collect or be able to see your email address.
- If you do not have a Google account or do not want to use one, you may choose to vote via email. Instructions are provided in the section "Voting by email" below.
- The results of the poll will be available on our webpage after the voting period is over.
| Voting Page |
Voting has concluded on August 15, 2020. The lists of events available are provided in the section "Voting by email" below.
| Voting by Email |
If you want to vote via email, please send your message to hkwwinfo@gmail.com within the voting period. Use "Events of the Decade Election" as the subject with the following content:
The events on the voting form are as follows; information in parentheses is in the order (Date - Rank in annual election - Percentage of votes obtained).
Hong-Kong-related tropical cyclone events:
- 01: (2010/10 - 1st - 78.29%) Tropical cyclone Megi traversed the Philippines and turned towards southern China. The #3 Strong Wind Signal was issued.
- 02: (2011/09/29 - 2nd - 76.72%) Tropical cyclone Nesat approached southern China and the #8 Gale or Storm Signal was issued.
- 03: (2012/07/24 - 1st - 93.95%) Tropical cyclone Vicente approached the Pearl River Estuary, necessitating the first Hurricane Signal no. 10 in about 13 years in Hong Kong.
- 04: (2013/09/22 - 2nd - 82.50%) Tropical cyclone Usagi hit southern China; the HK Observatory issued the No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal.
- 05: (2014/09/15 - 1st - 93.46%) Tropical cyclone Kalmaegi approached southern China and the #8 Gale or Storm Signal was issued.
- 06: (2016/10 - 2nd - 80.17%) Tropical cyclones Sarika and Haima affected Hong Kong in succession. The #3 Strong Wind Signal and Black Rainstorm Warning were issued during Sarika's approach, and the #8 Gale or Storm Signal was issued during Haima's approach.
- 07: (2017/08/23 - 1st - 93.39%) Tropical cyclone Hato approached the Pearl River Estuary, necessitating the #10 Hurricane Signal in both Hong Kong and Macau. The damage was particularly serious in Macau.
- 08: (2017/08/27 - 2nd - 66.94%) Tropical cyclone Pakhar came close to the west of the Pearl River Estuary, necessitating the #8 Gale or Storm Signal.
- 09: (2018/09/16 - 1st - 91.96%) Tropical cyclone Mangkhut approached the Pearl River Estuary, necessitating the #10 Hurricane Signal. The damage was particularly serious in Hong Kong.
- 10: (2019/07/31 - 1st - 66.25%) Tropical cyclone Wipha crossed northern South China Sea, necessitating the #8 Gale or Storm Signal.
Hong-Kong-related other meteorological events:
- 01: (2010/03/22 - 4th - 56.58%) Sand and dust affected Hong Kong, with the air pollution indices in many districts reaching 500, the upper limit of the index scale.
- 02: (2010/09/09 - 3rd - 59.87%) Affected by thunderstorms and heavy rain, a total of 13102 cloud-to-ground strikes were recorded within an hour in Hong Kong, breaking the previous record.
- 03: (2010/12/17 - 2nd - 68.42%) The mercury dipped to a minimum of 5.8 degrees at the HK Observatory, and -3 degrees at Tai Mo Shan with reports of frost.
- 04: (2014/03/30 - 2nd - 91.59%) Torrential rain in the evening affected most of Hong Kong. The Black Rainstorm Warning was issued. The roof damage at Festival Walk rendered the shopping mall an indoor waterfall.
- 05: (2016/01/05 - 3rd - 60.34%) The HK Observatory issued the first ever Amber Rainstorm Warning in January.
- 06: (2016/01/24 - 1st - 93.10%) An intense surge of northeast monsoon reached southern China. A minimum air temperature of 3.1 degrees was recorded at the HK Observatory. At Tai Mo Shan, a low of -6.0 degrees was recorded and there were reports of freezing rain and ice pellets.
- 07: (2018/01-02 - 4th - 56.25%) A prolonged period of cold weather affected Hong Kong. The minimum temperature at the HK Observatory was below 10 degrees for 9 consecutive days.
- 08: (2018/05 - 2nd - 74.11%) Hong Kong experienced an abnormally hot and sunny spell in the latter half of May, with temperatures reaching 33 degrees every day.
- 09: (2019/01/01 - 2nd - 63.75%) The air temperature of 11.4 degrees at the HK Observatory was the lowest in the year. It was the only "cold day" in 2019.
- 10: (2019/02 - 3rd - 61.25%) The winter of 2018/19 was the warmest on record. In particular, the three days from February 6 to 8 were the warmest second, third and fourth days of the lunar new year.
Meteorological events outside Hong Kong:
- 01: (2012/10/29 - 3rd - 56.05%) Tropical cyclone Sandy made landfall at Atlantic City. Its wide wind radius inflicted severe damage in major cities including New York.
- 02: (2012/12/04 - 2nd - 59.68%) Tropical cyclone Bopha made landfall at the Philippines as a category 5 super typhoon. The storm formed at a low latitude and was one of the closest to the equator at category 5 strength on record.
- 03: (2013/11/08 - 1st - 86.00%) Tropical cyclone Haiyan was estimated to have a wind speed of 170 knots as it hit central Philippines.
- 04: (2014/08 - 4th - 57.94%) No tropical cyclone formed within the northwest Pacific Ocean during the month, setting a record.
- 05: (2014/11 - 5th - 56.07%) The remnants of tropical cyclone Nuri intensified into a powerful extratropical cyclone. It resulted in a blocking high over northern America, and led to freezing temperatures being recorded in every US state on November 18.
- 06: (2015/08/08 - 1st - 61.74%) Tropical cyclone Soudelor made landfall at Taiwan, leading to record-breaking wind speeds at various stations.
- 07: (2017/06/01 - 4th - 52.89%) United States president Donald Trump announced that the country would withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
- 08: (2018/07 - 6th - 47.32%) Japan was hit by extreme weather events such as torrential rain and heat wave during the month. Tropical cyclone Jongdari crossed Japan from east to west in late July, a rare tropical cyclone track for the country.
- 09: (2018/09/04-06 - 3rd - 58.93%) Tropical cyclone Jebi struck central Japan, flooding the Kansai International Airport. Two days later, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck Hokkaido.
- 10: (2019/12/17 - 5th - 47.50%) The average nationwide temperature in Australia surged to a record-breaking 40.9 degrees amidst a heat wave, exacerbating the wildfires raging across the country.
Astronomical and geographic events:
- 01: (2010/01/12 - 7th - 44.08%) A magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in Haiti, killing more than 200,000.
- 02: (2010/02/27 - 8th - 43.42%) A magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred in Chile. The tsunami produced affected a number of countries and regions in the Pacific.
- 03: (2010/04/14 - 6th - 44.74%) A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Yushu, Qinghai. A rescue volunteer from Hong Kong died in an aftershock.
- 04: (2010/11/19 - 5th - 54.61%) A magnitude 2.8 earthquake occurred in Deep Bay. It was felt in Hong Kong and was estimated to be of intensity IV on the Modified Mercalli Scale, with vibration similar to a heavy truck passing by.
- 05: (2011/03/11 - 1st - 86.64%) A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of eastern Japan, initiating a tsunami and resulted in radiation leakage at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
- 06: (2012/06/06 - 4th - 40.73%) The last transit of Venus in this century took place today. The weather was fine in Hong Kong and the event was generally visible.
- 07: (2013/02/15 - 6th - 44.00%) A meteor broke up in the vicinity of the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring many.
- 08: (2018/12/22 - 7th - 45.54%) The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia triggered a tsunami that swept across the Sunda Strait.
- 09: (2019/04/10 - 8th - 43.75%) Scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope project released the first ever photograph of the event horizon of a black hole, that at the centre of the M87 galaxy.
- 10: (2019/12/05 - 4th - 51.25%) A magnitude 1.4 earthquake occurred at Cheung Chau, the first within Hong Kong since 2014.
Last Accessed: Sat Mar 22 2025 14:09:40 HKT
Last Modified: Mon Jul 24 2023
