PAGASA simplifying reporting

MANILA, Philippines —  For the past weeks, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has been using graphics to make weather forecasting simple.

In an interview with The STAR, PAGASA senior weather specialist Raymond Ordinario said they are aware that technical jargon needs to be removed to make weather information appealing to the general public.

“Unlike before where pure text was enough, now they want graphics, they prefer pictures, so we follow the trend,” he said. “Hopefully, our weather reporting will be more effective, as we want the warning and information given to them to translate into action.”

“We are now using pure graphics, pure colorful maps as the public can easily notice and understand the warnings that we issue in terms of tropical wind signals, including heavy rainfall warnings and flood information. These are all color-coded,” Ordinario said.

Tropical cyclone bulletins are issued every six hours, he noted.

“If a typhoon is expected to make landfall or cross our landmass, we increase our bulletin every three hours so we can show to the public that the threat is here, there are possible impacts as the typhoon is approaching,” he said.

A weather advisory is also issued twice a day to describe the expected amount of rain in every province, Ordinario said.

Tropical advisories are also issued to warn the public of cyclones outside the Philippine area of responsibility that are expected to enter PAR, he noted.

Aside from using weather satellites from Japan, Ordinario said PAGASA will also tap the satellite from South Korea next year.