Mt. Pulag, Luzon’s highest peak, is a popular tourist site in Kabayan, Benguet because of its alpine-like vegetation and “sea of clouds.” (Photo by RICHARD BALONGLONG
BAGUIO CITY—Frost or thin sheets of ice covered one of the trails of Mt. Pulag, Luzon’s highest peak, on Tuesday morning as the temperature in the area lingered between 6°C and 7°C due to the prevailing northeast monsoon, or “amihan.”
According to the Mount Pulag National Park management, the frost blanketed the mountain’s dwarf bamboo grassland, as monitored by one of their trekking guides.
Mt. Pulag, a popular destination for mountaineers, straddles the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya. It is Luzon’s highest peak at 2,922 meters above sea level.
In an advisory, the park management advised trekkers to bring thick body warmers to avoid suffering from hypothermia, or the dangerous drop in body temperature due to prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures.
Benguet experiences the coldest weather during the amihan season from December to January.
Farming towns
Several areas in the farming towns of Atok and Mankayan, both in Benguet, are also hit by frost when temperatures drop to as low as 4°C.
Farmers in these areas would usually find that some of their crops were damaged by the frost. But over the years, vegetable growers have learned to cope by watering the crops to melt the frost before sunrise and avoid wilting.
In Baguio, the temperature dropped to 13 degrees on Wednesday, one of the city’s lowest during the amihan season. It was on Christmas Day last year when Baguio posted its lowest temperature at 12.2°C.
Baguio’s coldest morning was recorded on Jan. 18, 1961, at 6.3°C.