Macau’s observatory will roll out a new alert service for hot and cold weather at the end of this month, with the aim of “reducing the impact of extremely high temperature or low temperature weather on residents”.
The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) made the announcement in a statement yesterday, according to which the alert service will start on December 28.
“With the intensifying global climate change, hot or cold weather can adversely affect human health easily, senior citizens, small children, pregnant women and chronically-ill patients in particular,” the statement said, adding that the bureau will launch the new alert service for hot and cold weather on December 28 “in order to enable residents to prepare their self-protection measures in advance for high or low temperatures”.
“The alert service for hot and cold weathers is formulated after taking into account the degree, duration and frequency of hot and cold weather in Macau,” the statement said.
The hot weather alert comprises yellow alert and orange alert. The bureau will issue a yellow alert if it forecasts that Macau’s weather will be hot, while an orange alert will be issued if it forecasts that Macau will be hit by very hot weather – i.e. an occurrence of an extremely high temperature, the statement said.
The cold weather alert also comprises yellow and orange alerts. The bureau will issue a yellow alert if it predicts that Macau’s weather will be cold, while an orange alert will be issued if it predicts that the city will be hit by a very cold weather – i.e. an occurrence of an extremely low temperature, the statement said.
The statement did not specify the level of temperatures that will activate a hot weather or a cold weather alert.
The Hong Kong Observatory launched its system about cold and very hot weather warnings in 1999, according to which a cold weather warning is issued if the temperature is or is forecast to be 12 degrees Celsius or below, while a very hot weather warning is issued if the temperature is or is predicted to be at least 33 degrees Celsius.
