Metro Manila feels early morning chill at 15.8 degrees Celsius
FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Temperatures dropped further early Sunday in Metro Manila to a chilling 15.8 degrees Celsius and the weather bureau expects cooler mornings until mid-February.
With the northeast monsoon in effect over Luzon and the Visayas, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) forecasters said that generally cool and dry weather could be anticipated all over the country with the peaking of the amihan.
Forecaster Manny Mendoza said that apart from the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon received the full blast of the Siberian northeasterlies accounting for the dip in temperature on several areas, including Nueva Ecija where it was as cold as Metro Manila at around 6 am.
Mendoza said that at around 4:50 a.m., Sunday, the temperature measured at the Pagasa Science Garden in Quezon City was at 15.8 degrees Celsius. Although Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City and Port Area in Manila were coldest respectively at 18.8 degrees Celsius and 20 degrees Celsius, the weather bureau considers the Science Garden temperature reading to be most representative of the entire NCR.
The forecaster explained that the temperature readings in Pasay City and Manila differed from that in Quezon City because of the altitude. “Quezon City is on a higher altitude than Manila or Pasay City. There are also other factors, including their location near the coast, that affect temperatures in Manila and Naia,” Mendoza told the Inquirer.
According to Pagasa, the lowest temperature recorded Sunday at around 6 am in Cabanatuan City was also at 15.8 degrees Celsius. Baguio City was coldest on Sunday at 9.4 degrees Celsius at around 4:35 am while a temperature of 13.6 degrees Celsius chilled the South’s Summer Capital Malaybalay City in Bukidnon Province at around 7:45 am.
The lowest temperature on Sunday in Tuguegarao City was recorded at 6 a.m. at 13.9 degrees Celsius. Laoag City in Northern Luzon was coldest Sunday at 16.6 degrees Celsius at around 6:35 a.m. while Clark, Pampanga temperatures dropped to 16.5 degrees Celsius at around 6:10 am.
The 15.8 degrees Celsius recorded in the NCR on Sunday, the forecaster said, was still far from when Metro Manila was coldest at 14.6 degrees Celsius in February, 1962.
With strong to gale force winds of the amihan affecting the eastern seaboards of the Visayas and Mindanao, Mendoza advised fishing boats and other small sea craft against venturing into the areas and alerted larger vessels to big waves that could reach up to 4.5 meters.
The eastern seaboards of the Visayas and Mindanao are in the Surigao Provinces, Samar, Leyte, Davao Oriental, as well as in Dinagat and Siargao Islands, where sea conditions are expected to be rough to very rough.
Weather on Monday for the whole country is expected to be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated light rains.
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