June was characterised by cloudier and hotter weather than usual, the Hong Kong Observatory said today.

The mean amount of cloud in the month was 86%, well above the normal mean of 77%.

Meanwhile, the mean temperature for the month was 28.8 degrees Celsius, 0.5 degrees above the normal mean.

There were nine consecutive very hot days in the month, one of the longest very hot spells on record for June.

With five out of the six months warmer than usual, the first half of the year was abnormally warm.

A mean minimum temperature of 21.4 degrees Celsius, a mean temperature of 23.3 degrees Celsius and a mean maximum temperature of 25.8 degrees Celsius were respectively the highest, one of the highest and the second highest on record for the same period.

The monthly rainfall was 281.3 mm, about 43% below the norm of 491.5mm for June.

The accumulated rainfall recorded in the first half of the year was 863.4 mm, about 20% below the normal figure for the same period.

One tropical cyclone occurred over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in June, the observatory added.