Cooler weather expected this week

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos can expect relatively cooler weather in the next three days due to the tail-end of a cold front, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.

PAGASA weather forecaster Aldzar Aurelio also said that no weather disturbance is expected to affect the country in the next few days.

“We expect fair weather for the whole country in the next three days,” Aurelio said in a phone interview.

However, he said the tail-end of a cold front, a weather system associated with rainfall and cloudiness, would affect Northern Luzon beginning today and migrate towards the Bicol region by Wednesday. It would also bring cooler temperatures in these areas.

PAGASA’s extended weather forecast showed that the temperature in Baguio City would range from 14 to 22 degrees Celsius this week.

Aurelio said the country will start to experience chilly weather next month until February when the northeast monsoon, or amihan, reaches its peak.

However, PAGASA continued to advise people to brace for one or two more cyclones before the year ends.

PAGASA experts said cyclones that enter the country during the latter part of the year are usually strong and “landfalling.”

A total of 25 cyclones have entered the country so far this year. Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) was so far the strongest of these, leaving more than 3,600 people dead and over 1,000 missing in the Visayas.

Tropical cyclones Sendong and Pablo, which had nearly identical paths, ravaged Mindanao in December 2011 and December 2012, respectively, leaving scores of people dead.