At your fingertips: The Weather Information for Senior Citizens webpage helps seniors prepare for extreme weather conditions.

The Hong Kong Observatory has launched the beta version of the Weather Information for Senior Citizens webpage, helping seniors prepare for extreme weather conditions.

The webpage contains the latest weather forecasts, including those for minimum and maximum temperatures, and the cold and very hot warning messages, as issued.

It also provides hyper links to the websites of the Social Welfare Department, Department of Health and other subsidised organisations such as the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association.

The observatory has also partnered with the association to study the effects of weather on senior citizens' health.

Weather affects seniors' health

Initial results showed that when the minimum temperature was below 23 degrees Celsius, the number of people using the Personal Emergency Link Service and the number of users subsequently hospitalised both increase with falling temperatures.

The corresponding figures for cold days (temperatures below 12 degrees) are higher than those of normal days by more than 10%. On average, about 80 people a day require hospitalisation after using the Personal Emergency Link Service. 

The observatory is co-operating with the association to promote senior citizens' awareness in preparing for cold weather.

Director of the Hong Kong Observatory Lam Chiu-ying will in his recorded message remind more than 50,000 Personal Emergency Link Service users to prepare for the impending wintry weather through the "Caring Message Service".

For more information, click here.