Cebu and the rest of the country will experience rainfall at least for the first three months of the year.
“The La Niña phenomenon will bring in more rains, and we already gave evacuation warnings to all stakeholders,” said engrineer Oscar Tabada, Mactan chief of the state weather bureau Pagasa.
This meant that Cebu residents can expect the onset of the Sinulog revelry starting this week to be rainy.
Tabada said a low-pressure area located 50 km east southeast of General Santos City will bring light to moderate rains in the Visayas.
But Tabada said even if the LPA won’t develop into a depression, it will still bring in the rains tomorrow and on Friday this week.
He said they expect five typhoons to hit the country from January to May this year.
Tabada also warned that heavy rains would hit a peak in the Visayas next month and on March due to the La Niña phenomenon.
He urged settlers in rivers and creeks to move to higher ground.
He said rain catchment facilities should be set up to regulate the heavy volume of rainwater.
Tabada said they expect an average volume of 105.8 mm of rainfall this month.
He said they will install 40 automatic rainwater gauges in the Visayas to provide an hourly report of rainwater volume and temperature.
Tabada said the Visayas will have cloudy skies with isolated rains this week.
Coastal waters will be moderate to rough while winds will be moderate to occasionally strong.
Tabada said they are targeting construction of 100 automatic weather stations (AWS) for the Visayas to accurately measure rainfall.
He said Central Visayas already has eight AWS stationed in the islands of Bantayan and Camotes, Bogo City, Metro Cebu, Bohol and Dumaguete provinces.
Tabada said they want to put another AWS in Alegria town, southern Cebu.
Aside from a rain gauge for measuring rainfall, Tabada said an AWS has a thermometer for measuring temperature, anemometer for measuring wind speed, hygrometer for measuring humidity and barometer for measuring pressure.
An AWS also has ceilometers for measuring cloud height and a weather or visibility sensor.
Tabada told Cebu Daily News that ideally, there should be an AWS for every kilometers to ensure the most accurate forecast.
He said a 7.5 milliliters volume of rainwater per hour can already cause floods and landslides. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya and Correspondent Fe Marie Dumaboc