The Hong Kong Observatory raised the first typhoon signal of the year last night. It’s apparently the earliest in the year a signal has been hoisted since 2008; further proof that 2016 is the year of weird, record-breaking weather and not the monkey.

The T1 standby signal was issued at 9:40pm yesterday as a tropical depression was within 330 kilometres of Hong Kong at the time. At the time, the senior scientific officer Sandy Song told SCMP that chances of a higher signal issued either overnight or in the morning were “not high”. Ha.

At 5:40am, HKO hoisted the No. 3 “strong wind” signal, which is still in force.

Much like the Arnold Schwarzenegger film with which it shares a name, today’s T3 warning is a solid “meh”. It’s enough to cancel classes at kindergartens and some special needs schools, but other than experiencing stronger-than-usual wind on coffee runs, office folk shouldn’t be too affected by current conditions.

As of 11am, the tropical depression is around 250 kilometres southwest of Hong Kong, and is expected to move north or north-northwest towards the coast of western Guangdog.

Most recently (11:15am), the HKO issued a bulletin warning about an “outer rainband” of the tropical depression which is forecast to cause squally showers at around noon. Bring your brollies to lunch, people.

According to Oriental Daily, yesterday’s T1 signal marked the earliest point in the year that a typhoon warning has been hoisted since 2008, when a standby signal was hoisted on April 17.



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