S1 Geography | Hong Kong Weather and Climate: temperature, rainfall and the monsoon

S1 Geography | Hong Kong Weather and Climate: temperature, rainfall and the monsoon – tutor prep guide

2026-11-14

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary Geography

Students can all say “hot in summer, cool in winter”, yet they fill a climate graph at random and treat weather and climate as the same thing. This lesson separates the two with one set of numbers, then turns graph reading into three repeatable moves.

Objectives — Students can: (1) separate weather from climate by time scale (rain today is weather, a wet summer every year is climate); (2) read monthly temperature and rainfall from a climate graph and describe the Hong Kong pattern of a hot wet summer and a cool dry winter; (3) state the monsoon wind directions (northeast in winter, southwest in summer) and explain how humidity and rainfall follow from them.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Direction and bearing	A northeast wind comes from which direction and blows towards which?	It comes from the northeast and blows towards the southwest
Reading a thermometer	The liquid rises to the 28 mark. What is the temperature?	28 degrees Celsius
Rainfall units	What does 250 mm of rainfall mean?	Rainwater reached a depth of 250 mm in the rain gauge

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Weather versus climate	Write “rain today” and “Hong Kong has wet summers” and ask what each sentence describes	Name one as today and the other as long-term average
5-15 min	Temperature and rainfall	Use observatory averages: about 16.5 C in January, 28.8 C in July, about 2,431 mm a year	Work out the annual range of 12.3 C
15-27 min	Humidity and monsoon	Explain that the winter northeast wind is dry and cool while the summer southwest wind is warm and moist, with 80 per cent humidity near saturation	Say which season is more humid and why
27-39 min	Three moves for a climate graph	Think aloud: check both axes, then the bars for rainfall, then the line for temperature	Read one graph and name the wettest month
39-43 min	Typhoon season	Point out that July to September carries the most typhoons and this overlaps the rainy season	Name the three highest-risk months
43-45 min	Exit check	Collect three items: weather or climate, graph reading, monsoon direction	Answer and hand in

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Weather and climate: one word separates them

The only difference is time. “Thunderstorms this afternoon” is weather, measured in hours to days; “Hong Kong has hot wet summers” is climate, measured over decades of averages. Do not teach a memorised definition, teach the contrast with one dataset: 31 C today is weather, a July average of 28.8 C is climate. Three checks: (1) does the sentence carry a short time marker such as today, tomorrow or next week; (2) does it carry a long marker such as average, every year or over the long term; (3) any statement about climate must mention an average, because a single year is only a weather record.

Ask students to sort three sentences (31 C today, about 2,400 mm a year, a typhoon next week) and justify each

Scene 2: Humidity and monsoon: the wind decides the weather

Relative humidity is how much water vapour the air holds compared with the maximum it could hold, so 80 per cent means close to saturation, sweat evaporates slowly and the heat feels worse. Wind direction drives it. The winter northeast wind arrives from the continental interior, dry and cool, with a January mean near 16.5 C. The summer southwest wind arrives from the sea, warm and moist, giving a July mean near 28.8 C and concentrating most rain between May and September. Teach one causal chain: wind off the sea, carries moisture, humidity rises, clouds and rain form. Always name the direction the wind comes from, because a northeast wind blows towards the southwest.

Ask students to state the causal chain aloud and draw an arrow from the southwest towards Hong Kong

Scene 3: Climate graphs: axes first, bars second, line third

A climate graph compresses a year into one figure: months along the horizontal axis, rainfall in millimetres as bars on the left vertical axis, temperature in degrees as a line on the right vertical axis. Reading is always the same three moves: (1) read both axes and their units; (2) read the bars for the wettest and driest months; (3) read the line for the hottest and coolest months. In Hong Kong the bars peak in June to August and fall in January and December, while the line peaks in July and bottoms in January, so the shapes are similar but not identical. The usual failure is reading bars only, or reading temperature off the rainfall axis.

Give a blank graph with axes only and ask which axis they check first, then have them point to the wettest month

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Weather or climate	“Hong Kong averages about 2,400 mm of rain a year.” Weather or climate?	(1) Find the long-term marker (2) Recognise an annual average (3) Answer climate	Climate, because it is a long-term average
Reading extremes	A climate graph shows the tallest bar in August at about 400 mm and the shortest in January at about 20 mm.	(1) Read the left axis (2) Find the tallest bar (3) Find the shortest bar (4) Write month and value	Wettest in August, driest in January
Monsoon direction	Which wind dominates Hong Kong in winter and where does it come from?	(1) Name the direction (2) Name the source region (3) Describe the weather	Northeast wind from the interior, dry and cool
Explaining humidity	Why does Hong Kong get heavy rain in summer?	(1) Wind off the sea (2) Large moisture supply (3) High humidity forms cloud (4) Heat drives convection	The southwest monsoon brings moisture and heat triggers convectional rain

Sanity check (teach this): Run three checks after every graph. First, units: rainfall in millimetres and temperature in degrees, never swap the axes, and always attach units to the answer. Second, extreme months: the wettest and the hottest month need not be the same, so check each axis separately. Third, time scale: any climate answer must contain the word average, because quoting 28.8 C for July without saying average turns climate back into weather.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Is “thunderstorms tomorrow” weather or climate?	Weather, the time scale is one day	Check that they name the time scale
January averages 16.5 C and July 28.8 C. What is the annual range?	12.3 C	Check the unit is written
Why is summer the wettest season in Hong Kong?	The southwest monsoon brings moisture from the sea and heat drives convection	Check they name the sea as the moisture source

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Treating weather as climate	It is hot today, so Hong Kong has a hot climate.	One day is weather. To speak about climate you need an average, for example a July mean of 28.8 C.
Reversing wind direction	A northeast wind blows from Hong Kong towards the northeast.	Winds are always named for where they come from. A northeast wind arrives from the northeast and blows to the southwest.
Swapping the axes	August rainfall was 400 degrees.	Bars use the left axis in millimetres and the line uses the right axis in degrees. Wrong units make every number useless.
Reading bars only	August has the most rain, so August is the hottest month.	Read the bars and the line separately. The wettest month and the hottest month are not always the same.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Map reading and scale, questions 1 to 3 — Grid lines and units first, just like the two axes of a climate graph
Weather elements and climate graphs, questions 2 to 4 — The same reading moves, extended to matching temperature with rainfall
Secondary Geography index, two timed graph papers — Twenty minutes timed, watching units and extreme months

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Is “about 2,400 mm a year on average” weather or climate?	Climate	Answering weather means the time scale is unclear
What wind dominates winter and what weather does it bring?	Northeast wind from the interior, dry and cool	Both direction and conditions are needed
What does each axis of a climate graph show?	Left axis rainfall in millimetres, right axis temperature in degrees	Reversed axes mean the units are not secure

09 Tutor FAQ

Do students need to memorise 16.5 and 28.8?

No. They need the order of magnitude, roughly mid teens in January and near twenty-nine in July, plus the idea of an annual range. That is enough for description and graph questions.

Are monsoon and seasonal wind the same term?

Yes. Use monsoon consistently and accept seasonal wind as a synonym, but do not switch terms inside one answer.

Should the formation of a typhoon be taught here?

At S1 keep to season and impact, namely July to September with violent wind and rain. Pressure and sea temperature conditions belong to senior secondary.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.