Q: What’s the weather in Hong Kong?
A: We have no readers in Hong Kong, are you planning a trip? Do you want it in Farenheit or Celsius? Are you looking for innocuous information about faraway places? Did you recently discover “The Shipping News”?
I can understand this kind of request. It’s fascinating to think of an exotic locale as having something as ordinary as a partly sunny forecast. Makes it feel almost relatable.
But while the weather report of a place you’re not currently in can be interesting, isn’t it like asking someone how tall they are and what they weigh? Climate is not a number! It’s a complex system that’s created by geographic, oceanic and atmospheric phenomena. So it may be partly sunny in Hong Kong today, but not for the same reasons it’s partly cloudy where you’re reading this.
