Baguio City AFP FILE PHOTO
BAGUIO CITY—Whatever happened to Baguio brrrrrr?
Residents and officials of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) are asking this question as the temperature in the summer capital has yet to drop to its lowest average since December, an abnormal occurrence in the last 10 years.
Efren Galate, Pagasa weather specialist, said they have noticed that the temperature has not dropped below 10 degrees Celsius, which usually happens in December, January and February.
Records from Pagasa from 2002 to 2012 showed that for the first time in 10 years, Baguio’s temperature did not drop to below 11 degrees Celsius in December and this month.
Lowest temperature
The lowest temperature recorded here in December 2011 was 11.4
degrees Celsius on December 26. This year’s coldest day was Jan. 9, when the mercury dropped to 11.6 degrees Celsius.
“We noticed that there was not much drop in temperature. In Beijing
(China), temperature there has not dropped to below zero degree. It means that we cannot expect a lower temperature because there is not much snow in Beijing. The northeast wind, which comes from that region, does not reach Baguio anymore [so it is] warm here. This is clearly the impact of global warming,” Galate said.
He said the amount of snow cover in Beijing is their gauge in determining if temperature in the summer capital would dip to even as low as 8 degrees.
“Our main visual observation has always been Beijing. By this time,
Beijing’s temperature should be below zero and to as low as negative 8. The snow formation has not been enough since December. We should be experiencing an extreme cold weather condition, but at present, we are not,” he said.
Galate said even the wind speed, which contributes to the drop in temperature here, was slowest this month.
Another change in the weather pattern is the unusual time when clouds form, he said. Clouds formed as early 10 a.m. in the past, but this year, they form as late as 5 p.m., he said.