People are stocking up on winter wear for the weekend ahead. Hong Kong Observatory predicts mercury dipping to 7 C this Sunday. Roy Liu / China Daily

Whether or not it snows this weekend, Hong Kong is ready to have a blast.

Citizens may be forgiven for dreaming of a white prelude to the Chinese New Year. After all, they have just been through a year that was officially Hong Kong's most scorching since 1850. The annual mean temperature in 2015 stood at 24.2 C.

So when the rumor about Hong Kong getting its first brush with snow since 1975 this weekend began circulating, no one seemed too bothered to trace its provenance. Finally, this was Hong Kong's chance to take out the mothball-scented down jackets, neck-warmers and long johns from the dark interiors of the closet and give them a much overdue outing. And if you didn't have any of these, the imminent change of circumstances called for a round of shopping for winter-wear to withstand the stings of severe weather.

Even as the speculation continues, neither the World Meteorological Organization nor Hong Kong Observatory websites show anything close to sub-zero temperature in their forecasts. The lowest dip they foresee is 7 C on Sunday morning, with the maximum temperature hovering somewhere around 9 C. The mercury is likely to slide by two extra degrees for those who live on the hills in the New Territories.

But no snow. Not even rain. Maybe a thin film of ice on the highest altitudes, if we get really lucky.

Snow or not, 50-something freelance writer Tim Kwok is planning to hike to Tai Mo Shan this Sunday and wait around, to catch the elusive snowflakes, should they descend from above. "Many Hong Kong people have not seen snowing in their whole lives, so even waiting for the off chance that it might happen is worthwhile," he says.

Tai Mo Shan is where snow in Hong Kong was last sighted in 1975. In the Chinese text 6000 Years of Hong Kong: from Ancient Times to 1997, the writers Tang Kaijian and Siu Kwok-kin state: mild snowfall was reported on Tai Mo Shan on four occasions, from 1967 to 1975. Snow was spotted on the highest peak in Hong Kong, with an elevation of 957 meters.

One of the most well-documented early instances of snowfall in Hong Kong is from January 1893. A group of foreign seamen had noticed the white precipitation while sailing by in a boat on Jan 15. By the time they came ashore the snow was gone and none of the Hong Kong natives they spoke to would believe them.

But then, the next day, the temperature dipped even further. The paths winding down the Peak were covered with ice. Hatchets were brought out to cut and remove slabs of ice and carve a flight of steps for those residing in the area, according to a report published in The China Mail of Jan 17.

The Hong Kong Telegraph had got there a day earlier. In the edition dated Jan 16, 1893, it reported the thermometer reading at the Peak was down to 27 F (-3 C). "Ice was in abundance all over and during the night there were several alarms of bursting water pipes," it said, adding a mildly cheeky aside, "The Observatory notice prudently omits to state how the thermometer is today."

This time round, some of us are hoping that the weather gods will do better than the Observatory forecasts and bless Hong Kong with its first real snowfall in 123 years.

Charlie Chan, a 30-year-old financial consultant, is dying to step out of his office building in Central and capture the iconic landscape along the Victoria Harbour under a light snow drizzle on his camera.

We hope, for his sake, it happens.

Contact the writers through basu@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 01/21/2016 page9)