Hong Kong could lose its winter, Hong Kong Observatory Director Lam Chiu-ying said on Wednesday, forecasting the number of very hot days and hot nights will rise in the coming century.

"Taking into account various greenhouse gas emission scenarios and urbanization, there will be a temperature rise of up to 6.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century," said Lam when briefing journalists on the updated projection for the city's temperature trend.

In summer, there will be more hot nights with a minimum temperature at or above 28 degrees. By the end of the century there could be up to 54 hot nights a year, compared with 15 at the end of the last century.

The number of very hot days with a maximum temperature at or above 33 degrees will also increase to up to 19 per year compared to seven at the end of the last century.

"The average of all calculation results based on different scenarios shows that by 2030-2039, there will be less than one cold day a year, meaning for some winters, there will not be any cold days at all," Lam said.

He said if the high emission scenario is coupled with continued urbanization, the time for this to occur will be advanced to 2020-2029, and people will witness the disappearance of winter in Hong Kong.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 13, 2008)