Pagasa expects hotter days ahead

A pure bred dog cools off with electric fans to beat the summer heat during a pet expo at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on May 1, 2014. The Philippine Atmospheric, Feophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Monday, June 2, said temperatures might still rise for as long as the easterlies (warm winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean) are in effect. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines–Don’t expect temperatures to drop simply because the rainy season is coming. In fact, the temperature soared to a record high 40.4 degrees Celsius in Tuguegarao City on Sunday.

That is because the easterlies—warm winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean—are still the prevailing weather system.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) forecasters said that on the same day that the temperature rose to its highest level in Tuguegarao, it also ranged between 35.5 and 38 degrees elsewhere in Luzon.

“Before we change [weather] systems, we usually feel the hottest temperatures,” forecaster Gener Quitlong told the Inquirer.

The temperature, he explained, usually gets hotter before the habagat, or southwest monsoon, sets in.

Previous hottest

While the hottest place in the country, Tuguegarao, sizzled on Sunday at 40.4 degrees around 2:30 p.m., Cabanatuan City sweltered at 38 degrees.

The highest temperature recorded at the Subic Bay station was 37.5 degrees, and the station at Sangley Point in Cavite registered a high of 37 degrees.

Both Metro Manila and Isabela were hottest at 35.5 degrees.

Based on Pagasa records, Tuguegarao—the capital and regional center of Cagayan Valley—recorded the previous highest temperature in the country at 42.2 degrees on Aug. 19, 1912, and on May 11, 1969.

Metro Manila was warmest on May 14, 1987, at 38.5 degrees.

Cold water, ice cream

Ramil Tuppil, Pagasa weather forecaster in Isabela province, said residents of Cagayan and Isabela provinces had been feeling the extreme heat due to the hot summer wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean.

“As long as the ridge of the high pressure area is there, we will have high temperatures in the region,” Tuppil said.

Tuguegarao residents have learned to cope with the extreme heat they suffer every year.

Many Tuguegarao residents drink plenty of ice-cold water or soda and eat halo-halo or ice cream to cool themselves.

Others take multiple showers in a day, wear light clothing, or stay indoors or under the shade as the heat becomes unbearable.

’Our way of life’

“It has been a way of life for us, residents of Tuguegarao. We are used to this extreme heat,” said Cadel Trilles, a Tuguegarao radio broadcaster.

Also, farmers in the region have been rising as early as 3 a.m. to go to their farms to avoid the scorching heat that peaks at noon and early afternoon.

Edgardo Bayucan, a farmer in Ilagan City in Isabela, said he would go home early or stay in his nipa hut during the hottest part of the day to avoid dehydration.

Drink plenty of water

Samson Quidit, another farmer, usually brings a bottle of water with him and wears a wide-brimmed hat when he goes to his farm.

As the temperature keeps rising, Dr. Edmund Bautista, a doctor at St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao, advised residents to keep themselves hydrated.

“It is essential to drink plenty of water and stay in a cool place,” Bautista said. “For the past few days, we have been receiving patients who were complaining due to the extreme heat. But some are accustomed to this kind of weather already.”

Quitlong told the Inquirer that as long as the easterlies were in effect, it was still possible for temperatures to rise. He said the ridge of a high pressure remained over parts of Luzon, bringing dry and warm winds.

Rains coming

Despite the frequent thunderstorms, the rainy season has not yet arrived, Quitlong said, adding the rains may come by next week or by the third week of June.

“The frequent thunderstorms are signs of the onset of the transition to the rainy season,” Quitlong said. The habagat is the primary indicator of the wet season, he pointed out.

On Monday the highest temperature recorded at the Pagasa Science Garden in Quezon City—most representative of Metro Manila—was 35.8 degrees around 2:30 p.m.

As of 2 p.m. Monday, the recorded temperatures in other parts of Luzon were: 38 degrees in Tuguegarao; 36.2 degrees in Sangley Point, Cavite; 35.7 degrees in Isabela; 35.6 degrees in Cabanatuan City; and 34 degrees in Subic Bay.

In Pagasa’s forecast for Tuesday, the whole country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms. A ridge of a high pressure area, the weather bureau said, is still prevailing over northern Luzon.

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