No, it’s not summer again; it’s monsoon break

Feels like summer again? It’s called a “monsoon break,” said weather forecasters on Tuesday’s hot and sunny weather despite the onset of the rainy season.

Except in Mindanao, where a new low-pressure area (LPA) appears to be forming again, the country is expected to have clear skies in the next few days due to the weak southwest monsoon with only isolated rain showers, forecasters of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

“Right now, we’re on a monsoon break, so the skies are probably going to be clear in the next few days, except for isolated rains in Luzon and Visayas,” he said.

A monsoon break is not unusual and can last for weeks, he said.

But Pagasa forecaster Jori Loiz said the agency is keeping an eye on gathering winds over southern Mindanao. If it turns into an LPA, there’s a chance it would move up and pull the southwest monsoon back, Loiz said.

“It’s only Mindanao that’s now experiencing a lot of rains,” Loiz said.

Even so, Pagasa issued a thunderstorm advisory over Metro Manila Tuesday afternoon after it detected thick clouds approaching the metropolis.

Based on the weather bureau’s outlook for Wednesday, Mindanao will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening.

Light to moderate winds blowing from the east to southeast will prevail over Luzon and Visayas and the winds coming from the east to northeast will prevail over Mindanao, Pagasa said.

Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate, it added.