MANILA, Philippines - This year’s summer season is expected to be cooler than last year due to the prevailing La Niña phenomenon.
Robert Sawi, weather section chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said the La Niña event is likely to bring rains in the country during the summer months of April and May.
“Precisely this coming summer season will be cooler than last year... the (La Niña) rains could slightly disperse heat,” he said.
Sawi said Pagasa expects the highest daytime temperature to reach 35 degrees Celsius this year, compared to the 39 degrees Celsius recorded last year in Isabela province.
Pagasa earlier warned the country might experience a wet summer this year because of the La Niña.
Sawi, however, clarified this does not mean it will be raining the whole summer.
“We can expect more rainy days (this summer) compared to the normal,” he said.
La Niña refers to the abnormal cooling of the sea surface temperature in the equatorial Pacific and is characterized by excessive rainfall.
“We expect the La Niña to end in the second quarter of the year,” Sawi said.
Meanwhile, Sawi said the northeast monsoon - the system that brings cooler temperatures in the country - is expected to end before the end of the month.
He said they would officially announce the start of the summer season in areas under Type I climate once the easterly wind sets in.
The easterly wind - which brings warm and humid weather in the country - is the criterion for declaring the onset of the dry season.
Areas under Type I climate include Metro Manila, Ilocos region, western part of Mountain Province, western part of Nueva Ecija, Central Luzon, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Zambales, Occidental Mindoro, southern parts of Antique and Iloilo, northwestern part of Palawan, and the southern parts of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.
For the meantime, Sawi said no tropical cyclone is expected to affect the country in the next several days.
However, the wind convergence will bring cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms over Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, becoming widespread rains over Visayas and northeastern Mindanao that may trigger flashfloods and landslides, Pagasa said.
The rest of Luzon, on the other hand, would be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated light rains, Pagasa said.