Metro heat eases, but rest of Luzon sizzles

By: Jeannette I. Andrade - 10 years ago

COOL KIDS. Children enjoy a dip in an inflated pool on Road 10 in Navotas City. ARNOLD ALMACEN/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — While Metro Manila turned slightly cooler on Sunday, the rest of Luzon sizzled, reaching temperatures as high as 38 degrees Celsius.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Cabanatuan City in Central Luzon was hottest on Sunday at around 2 p.m. with the highest temperature measured at 38.3 degrees Celsius.

Weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said that the Echague town in Isabela, which posted the hottest temperature so far this year at 39.7 degrees Celsius on May 15, was warmest at 38.2 degrees Celsius at around 2 p.m.

Quitlong said that the temperature in Metro Manila measured at the Pagasa Science Garden in Quezon City at around 2 p.m. was at 35.8 degrees Celsius but it was much hotter in the southern part of Metro Manila at 37.3 degrees Celsius, particularly at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Pagasa usually adopts the Science Garden temperature to represent the temperature in the National Capital Region because the NAIA measurement is affected by other factors, such as its proximity to the sea, according to Quitlong. Metro Manila was hottest this year on May 11 at 36.5 degrees Celsius.

In Tuguegarao City, which is historically the hottest place in the country located at the northeasternmost tip of Luzon, the temperature recorded at around 2 p.m. was at 37.5 degrees Celsius while the Subic-Clark station recorded the hottest temperature in the area at 35.7 degrees Celsius at 2 pm.

The average highest temperatures in the Visayas and Mindanao remained at 34 degrees Celsius, Quitlong said.

He explained that the surge of temperatures in Luzon could be attributed to the ridge of a high pressure area (HPA) extending over Luzon, bringing in the dry and warm easterly winds.

He said that the ridge of the HPA would continue to affect Luzon for two more weeks or until the end of the month. “The rains might come by the first or second week of June,” Quitlong said.

He nevertheless said that we could be seeing cooler temperatures in the next few days, pointing out that maximum temperatures in previous years have occurred mostly in the first or second week of May.

Based on previous Pagasa records the highest temperature was at 42.2 degrees Celsius in Tuguegarao City on May 11, 1969 while Metro Manila was warmest on May 14, 1987 at 38.5 degrees Celsius.

“We may see temperatures gradually dropping soon,” Quitlong said.

In Pagasa’s forecast for Monday, the whole country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening.