又中又英｜A clear sign of climate change

Has autumn finally arrived in Hong Kong? I hope so. A fresh northeast monsoon brought overcast skies with intermittent rain Sunday morning. It was windy and cool when I went out early in the morning to my tiny balcony overlooking the Sai Wan Ho harbour. By late morning the sun peeked out. It made my day. An overcast sky is a sky covered with dark clouds without sunlight. Intermittent rain means rain that starts and stops. If the sun peeks out, it means it comes out a bit and can be partly seen. To make your day means to make you happy.

When I was growing up in Hong Kong, autumn usually arrived in September, around the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival. But this year's September felt like summer. The US space agency NASA said the summer of 2023 was the hottest since global records began in 1880. I spent the summer in different cities in the US. It was abnormally hot with azure skies on most days. An azure sky is a bright blue sky on a clear and cloudless day. The Hong Kong Observatory has predicted much cooler weather this week, with temperatures ranging from 19 to 25 degrees.

That is much cooler than the 33 to 34 degrees during this Hong Kong summer. But it is still warm for November weather. The temperature in Austin, Texas where my younger brother lives reached over 40 degrees on some days during the summer. Even some US cities that I visited that normally have comfortable summers were abnormally hot. It is a clear sign of climate change.

香港是否终于迎来秋天了？我希望是吧。一股清新的东北季候风，在星期日的早上带来了多云（overcast）有骤雨（intermittent rain）的天气。当我清晨步出我的小露台，俯瞰西湾河海滨时，是大风而凉快的。到了早上晚些时候，太阳探出头来了（the sun peeked out），这实在令我很开心（made my day）。An overcast sky就是没有阳光，乌云密布的天色； intermittent rain就是阵雨，时降时停。要是 the sun peeks out，意即太阳露出来了，可以稍稍见到它。To make your day是指它令你很高兴，感到这一天很美好。

我儿时在香港长大，那时的秋天，通常于九月大概中秋节左右的时分来临。然而，这一年的九月更像夏天。美国的太空机构太空总署指，二零二三年的夏天，是自一八八零年世界有纪录以来最炎热的夏天。我这个夏天待在美国几个不同的城市，大部分的日子都是不寻常的炎热，有着 azure skies——an azure sky就是万里无云、蔚蓝的天。香港天文台已经预测，今周将较为清凉，气温介乎十九至二十五度。

这个气温比香港今夏的三十三至三十四度要凉快得多了，然而以十一月的天气来说，仍属和暖。我弟弟住的德州奥斯汀，夏季期间有些日子气温高达四十度。甚或是我到访的一些美国城市，往常有着舒适的夏天，也不寻常地炎热。这是气候变化的明确迹象。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻