Nippy bedtime weather expected thru February

Two little girls donned thick and furry boots to fight the freezing weather along Burnham Park in Baguio City. The cooling temperatures have allowed local folk to bring out their best winter fashion gear, usually courtesy of Baguio’s secondhand clothes stores where snow jackets from the US and Asia are stocked.
PDI-NL PHOTOS / Richard Balonglong

MANILA, Philippines—Bedtime will still be a good time to bundle up in blankets as the crisp weather is expected to persist for the rest of January and well into February, according to the state weather bureau.

The reason is the northeast monsoon that ushers in freezing winds from Siberia, according to Robert Sawi, officer-in-charge of the weather division of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

“Even at daytime, the weather is cool primarily because of the strength of icy winds that are blowing from Siberia,” he said.

Although the northeast monsoon (locally known as “hanging amihan”) typically begins in the last quarter of the previous year, the Philippines experiences its coldest weather in January and February, when the cold season reaches its peak.

Based on Pagasa’s climate data, the lowest temperature in Metro Manila was recorded in February 1962 at 14.6 degrees Celsius at Science Garden in Quezon City, while Baguio recorded its coldest temperature in January 1961 at 6.3 degrees.

(Pagasa considers temperature readings at Science Garden to be most representative of Metro Manila).

So far, in 2014, Metro Manila experienced its coldest temperature at 19.2 degrees Celsius on Jan. 1 and Jan. 12. In Baguio, it was 9.6 degrees, also on Jan. 12.

Friday was somewhat warmer at 21.5 degrees Celsius in Metro Manila, while the mercury dipped to 10 degrees in Baguio.

Pagasa forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said Filipinos should expect the cool weather to persist until February.