Mercury dips, city chills on Christmas morning

MANILA, Philippines–Christmas morning was the coldest since this year’s onset of the northeast monsoon, locally known as the “amihan,” with Metro Manila chilling at 19 degrees Celsius.

Forecasters of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) yesterday said that while the weather in Luzon was generally cold and dry, a low pressure area (LPA) east of the country may soon make the holidays wet for the eastern sections of both Mindanao and the Visayas.

According to weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio, the lowest temperature of 19 degrees in Metro Manila since the October onset of the northeast monsoon was recorded at around 6 a.m. at the Pagasa Science Garden in Quezon City.

Temperatures recorded at the Science Garden is used as the standard for the entire National Capital Region (NCR).

Aurelio said that Baguio City, where temperatures dipped to 12 degrees on Dec. 19, was a bit warmer at 15.6 degrees.

The weather forecaster said that the dip in Metro Manila temperature was possibly caused by the diffused end of a cold front and the prevailing northeast monsoon, which spawned rains at the NCR on Christmas Eve.

Little chance of evolving

Meanwhile Aurelio said that the LPA, some 1,500 kilometers east of Mindanao, has little chance of evolving into a tropical cyclone.

But he said that once it enters the Philippine area of responsibility, the LPA could bring rains to the eastern sections of the Visayas and Mindanao towards the weekend.

The weather forecaster warned fishing boats and other small vessels against venturing into the eastern seaboards of Central and Southern Luzon because of strong to gale force winds caused by the surge of the northeast monsoon that would make sea conditions rough to very rough. Bigger vessels are alerted to waves that could reach up to 4.5 meters.

In Pagasa’s forecast for Friday, the diffused tail end of a cold front is expected to bring cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms over Bicol as well as the regions of the Eastern and Central Visayas, Caraga, Davao and Northern Mindanao.

The regions of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Central Luzon as well as the Cordillera Administrative Region will have cloudy skies with light rains while Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms.