Cold, cold morning for Metro residents

Metro Manila residents woke up on Saturday to the coldest morning yet this year, with the temperature plunging to 16.9 degrees Celsius—and the weather bureau believes it could go even lower in the following weeks.

The lowest temperature so far in the capital this year was recorded at 6:20 a.m. at the Science Garden of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in Quezon City, the agency said.

“That’s a record low this year. The second lowest temperature was recorded on Jan. 18 at 17.5 degrees Celsius,” said Pagasa forecaster Glaiza Escullar.

Pagasa considers temperature readings at Science Garden to be most representative of Metro Manila, although readings are also recorded in other areas, including the port area in Manila and Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.

The reading of 16.9 degrees Celsius is lower than the coldest day of the previous year, which was 18.1 degrees Celsius on Jan. 23, 2013.

Pagasa said the cold weather was caused by the northeast monsoon, which brings freezing winds from Siberia. This typically begins in October and ends in February or early March.

“The northeast monsoon is expected to peak in the first and second week of February,” Escullar said.

This means that “there’s a possibility the temperature could go even lower,” she said.

But Escullar said the dropping temperature was still within Pagasa’s range of expectations.

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

Yesterday, the temperature in Baguio was 9.5 degrees Celsius, just a little warmer than its coldest day this year, recorded on Jan. 19 at 8.1 degrees.

Pagasa predicted that the northeast monsoon would continue to affect Luzon and the Visayas.

“Mindanao will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms. Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated light rains,” according to its 24-hour weather outlook.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and the Visayas, and winds coming from the northeast to north over Mindanao. Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough, it added.

The weather bureau also warned of strong to gale force winds affecting the northern seaboard of northern Luzon and the eastern seaboards of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

“Fishing boats and other small seacraft are advised not to venture out to sea while larger sea vessels

are alerted of big waves,” it said.

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