Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

TYPHOON Hato, the 13th typhoon of the year, will bring heavy rain to the city tomorrow night into Thursday, according to Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory.

Hato was 1,067 kilometers southeast of Shenzhen in the Pacific Ocean as of 2 p.m. yesterday.

It was moving to the northwest in the northwestern Pacific, packing maximum winds of 20 meters per second near its eye.

The typhoon is expected to make land fall along the Guangdong coast between Shanwei and Zhuhai tomorrow, meteorologists said.

The observatory issued a white alert for the typhoon yesterday. Affected by the outer airstream of Hato, Shenzhen recorded temperatures of more than 35 degrees Celsius in most areas yesterday. The highest temperature, in Caopu, Luohu District, reached 39.5 degrees Celsius, the observatory said.

Meteorological statistics showed the average temperature from the end of July to mid-August reached 29.6 degrees Celsius, which is 0.9 degrees higher than the average in the same period over the past five years, and the highest for the same period since 1999.

The observatory has so far this year issued yellow alerts six times and an orange alert once.