Cooler temperatures ahead but no rainy season yet–Pagasa

MTSAT ENHANCED IR Satellite Image for 08:32 A. M. PST

MANILA, Philippines — Expect cooler temperatures ahead, state forecasters said Tuesday.

Leny Ruiz, weather forecaster from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said the temperature in the coming days would no longer exceed the soaring temperatures of the past weeks.

On Monday, Metro Manila recorded its hottest temperature at 34.1 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature for the year in Metro Manila was at 37.6 Celsius on April 29. On a nationwide scale, it was recorded at April 13 at 38.4 degrees Celsius in Clark, Pampanga.

While the cooler temperatures were attributed to isolated rainshowers in the past few days, Ruiz said this did not mean that the rainy season was upon us.

He added that the rainy season did not usually begin until end of May or early June and that certain criteria would have to be met before one could be declared.

One of the requirements is three consecutive days of rains within a five-day period within the months of April, May, or June, with a total rainfall of 25 millimeters, or having at least one mm of rainfall per day.

Ruiz said the above criteria should happen in at least five of the following Climate Type I stations: Laoag, Vigan, Dagupan, Iba, San Jose, Metro Manila, Ambulong and Iloilo.

In Metro Manila, at least two of three stations — at the Science Garden, Sangley Point or Port Area — must have satisfied the first criterion, he said.

Meanwhile, Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms due to a trough of a low pressure area.The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening, Pagasa said in its 5 a.m. bulletin.

Light to moderate winds blowing from the southeast to south will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon, east to southeast over the rest of Luzon and Visayas and coming from the east to northeast over Mindanao.

The coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate, it added.