MANILA, Philippines - The rainy season associated with the southwest monsoon has ended, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.
PAGASA administrator Vicente Malano said recent climate analysis showed a significant weakening of the southwest monsoon winds in the past few days.
Moreover, he said the strengthening of the high-pressure systems over the Asian continent has led to the gradual changing of the seasons.
“With these developments, the southwest monsoon season is now officially over,” Malano said.
The PAGASA chief said the country is currently experiencing seasonal climate transition, which is manifested by warm and humid condition. The warm easterly winds prevail over the country during the transition period.
The southwest monsoon did not bring much rainfall in the western section of the country this year due to the prevailing El Niño phenomenon.
El Niño is the abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean and is associated with below normal rainfall.
On June 23, PAGASA officially declared the start of the rainy season for the western section of the country, which covers the western section of Luzon and the Visayas with a Type 1 climate.
Areas under a Type 1 climate have two pronounced seasons: dry and wet. In these areas, the dry season occurs from November to April while the wet season happens during the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, Malano said the wind system is expected to gradually shift to northeast monsoon in the coming days.
Rene Paciente, chief of the PAGASA’s marine meteorological services section, said residents of Luzon, especially those in extreme Northern Luzon, should brace for slightly cooler temperatures and light rains from Sunday to Thursday next week due to the surge of the northeast monsoon.
“We already have the northeast monsoon but it’s still weak,” Paciente told The STAR.
He said PAGASA expects the northeast monsoon to fully set in later this month.
PAGASA climatologists said this year’s northeast monsoon season will be warmer than the previous years due to the El Niño.
“We could still experience the cold season but we are expecting it to be warmer than the previous years, which is typical for an El Niño,” Anthony Lucero, officer-in-charge of PAGASA’s climate monitoring and prediction section, said.
PAGASA also predicts an early termination of the northeast monsoon due to El Niño, which is expected to last until June next year.