Hot but not yet summer
Tourists frolic in the waters of Wawa Dam in Rodriguez, Rizal last week. The weather is expected to be hot and humid for the next three days, state weather experts said.
Hot and humid weather will continue to affect the country in the next three days due to the easterlies and the ridge of high pressure area, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.
However, despite the scorching weather in the past days, PAGASA is not yet declaring the official start of the dry or summer season due to the presence of the northeasterly wind.
For the agency to officially declare the onset of summer, the following indicators must be present: elimination of the northeast monsoon or cold and dry air from China or Siberia, and the presence of the high pressure area, a system associated with sunny weather, and the easterlies, warm air from the Pacific.
PAGASA said Metro Manila and the rest of the country will experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers.
PAGASA’s weekly weather outlook, however, showed that the northeasterly wind is expected to affect Northern Luzon provinces by tomorrow until Wednesday, bringing partly cloudy to cloudy skies with passing light rains.
Weather specialists at PAGASA said the northeast monsoon is already weak.
PAGASA earlier warned of slightly warmer than normal temperatures in the country this summer due to the prevailing La Niña phenomenon.
“In general, we will experience slightly warmer than average temperatures. The easterlies are stronger during La Niña,” Ana Liza Solis, officer-in-charge of PAGASA’s climate monitoring and prediction section, said.
In Northern Luzon, PAGASA expects the temperature to hit 39.3 degrees Celsius in April. In Metro Manila, the forecast maximum temperature for April is 37.8 degrees Celsius based on PAGASA’s latest data.