Hong Kong Observatory cancels amber rainstorm signal after less than an hour
Observatory says rainstorms can develop quite rapidly, making it difficult to accurately predict them
The Hong Kong Observatory cancelled an amber rainstorm warning on Saturday afternoon, less than an hour after it was issued.
The forecaster earlier in the day went from an amber to a red signal, then said at 12.15pm it could upgrade the warning to black.
But an abrupt weather change prompted the forecaster to cancel the warning and remove any mention of a higher alert in a later update.
The red rainstorm warning was issued at 12.05pm, with the forecaster saying the weather was due to an area of low pressure moving across the vicinity of the Pearl River Delta, resulting in an intense rainband.
At 1.20pm, the warning was downgraded to amber, meaning heavy rain exceeding 30mm had fallen or was expected to fall in an hour, and reference to a potential black rainstorm alert removed.