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MANILA, Philippines – It’s official: the season we Filipinos love to call “summer” has arrived.
State weather bureau PAGASA on Monday, March 18, announced the end of the cool Northeast Monsoon, signaling the start of hotter, more humid weather across the country.
The bureau made this announcement as the ridge of the North Pacific High Pressure Area extending over Luzon shifts wind direction, so that it comes mainly from the east to southeast, and the rising temperatures across the archipelago.
“Weather conditions will be mostly sunny associated with warm and humid air in most parts of the country aside from isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms particularly over the eastern section of Visayas and Mindanao,” the bureau said in its official statement Monday.
There will also be occasions where strong easterly winds will be experienced over the eastern sections of Visayas and Mindanao, bringing moderate to rough seas.
Officially, the Philippines’ climate has two major “seasons” based on temperature and rainfall, according to PAGASA: the rainy season from June to November, and the dry season from December to May.
PAGASA further subdivides the dry season into two: a cool dry season (December to February), and a hot dry season (March to May). The hot dry season is what Filipinos usually refer to as “summer.”
Temperatures usually climb to the mid-30s, particularly in areas such as the Cagayan Valley and in major metropolitan areas like Metro Manila.
It is also during this “summer” season that humidity reaches higher levels.
Tuesday forecast
On Tuesday, March 19, the first official day of the Filipino summer season, the whole country will experience partly cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms, the bureau said in its 24-hour forecast released late Monday.
Prevailing winds will be coming primarily from the east to southeast over Luzon, and from the east to northeast over the rest of the archipelago.
Temperatures in major cities will range from Baguio’s low of 15 degrees Celsius, to Tuguegarao City’s high of 35 degrees Celsius.
Metro Manila is forecast to experience temperatures of up to 34 degrees Celsius.
No tropical cyclone is within the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), the bureau added.
PAGASA 24-Hour Public Weather Forecast, 18 March 2013, 5pm
– Rappler.com
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