No summer season in PH only warm-dry season

THE Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Friday that the warm-dry season and not summer season will likely begin in the coming week as the northeast monsoon locally known as “amihan” may disappear in the next few days.

With the low-pressure area off Davao City having already dissipated, the amihan and localized thunderstorms are the only weather systems affecting the country, according to Pagasa weather forecaster Benison Estareja.

Specifically, the northeast monsoon is bringing partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rains over the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon, the state-run weather agency said.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms due to the localized thunderstorms over the next 24 hours, it added.

While the northeast monsoon may vanish in the coming week, Estareja said the warm-dry season will likely set in next week, or at the end of the month.

“So it’s the warm-dry season. We emphasize there is no summer season in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pagasa said, the easterlies — the winds coming from the east that pass through the Pacific Ocean and bring warm, humid weather — are now slowly approaching.

The state weather bureau said warm weather means temperatures around 25 C while hot or dry weather is when temperatures are around 35 C.

Using temperature and rainfall as bases, the climate of the country can be divided into two major seasons: the rainy season which is from June to November, and the dry season, from December to May, Pagasa said.

Earlier, Pagasa said La Niña has ended but it did not mean that its “sibling” — El Niño (warm phase) — will take over.

Most of the climate models predict that ENSO — neutral (neither La Niña nor El Niño) — might happen from March through June this year, with an increased likelihood of a transition to El Niño thereafter,” according to Pagasa Administrator Vicente Malano.

Other weather systems still likely to affect the country are the ridge of high-pressure areas, lowpressure areas and convergence zones, Malano said.

Pagasa has predicted that at least one tropical cyclone will likely occur within this month.