No more jargon, just plain ‘Taglish,’ in weather reports

MANILA, Philippines—Intertropical convergence what?

The weather bureau is shedding jargon and adopting “Taglish” in its advisories to make them better understood by the public.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Tuesday announced that it had dropped terms like intertropical convergence zone, which refers to the area where winds from the northern and southern hemispheres converge.

From now on, “wind convergence” will do, Robert Sawi, the chief weather forecaster, said.

The new updates will also have more emphasis on the effects of the weather, officials said in a press briefing to mark the World Meteorological Day.

Sawi said PAGASA has “laymanized” the advisories to ensure that broadcast journalists on radio and television would be able to issue more comprehensible and meaningful weather reports to the public.

In coming updates in Filipino, certain terms, like those used for directions, would use the English equivalent. Sawi said the English terms for directions are more widely used.

“This will make it easier to understand,” Sawi said.

PAGASA has also dropped unnecessary technical information like wind speed and wind direction and simplified scientific terms.

The public advisory for the general weather for the day would be issued at 5 a.m. and would be updated in the afternoon. In case of a serious weather disturbance, updates will be issued every six hours, PAGASA said.

At the end of each updates are PAGASA hotlines and the website address for the public to check for further inquiries.

Meanwhile, PAGASA said summer will be late this year as the easterly winds, which bring warm and humid weather, have yet to fully set in.

PAGASA administrator Nathaniel Servando said the onset of the easterlies, which signals the start of the dry season in the Philippines, usually comes at the end of March.

But at present, the northeast monsoon, which carries cold weather from the wintry north, is still being felt.

Forecast models showed the easterly winds may not come in until April, Servando said.