AP FILE PHOTO
It’s still summer despite the frequent thunderstorms and rains occurring in many parts of the country recently.
“The rainy season is likely to start mid-June or next week, but a criteria must first be met,” Buddy Javier, weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said by telephone on Tuesday.
There must be a total 25-millimeter worth of rainfall in five of eight Pagasa stations in the country for three consecutive days.
The Pagasa stations are located in Laoag in Ilocos Norte, Vigan and Ilocos Sur, Dagupan in Pangasinan, Iba in Zambales, Calapan in Oriental Mindoro, Metro Manila, Ambulong in Batangas and in Iloilo.
The prevailing weather system must also be the southwest monsoon or hanging habagat.
Javier noted that the frequent thunderstorms are one of the indications that rainy season is nearing.
There is also no developing tropical cyclone in the next few days.
An intertropical convergence zone is affecting southern Mindanao, Pagasa said in its afternoon bulletin.
Cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and thunderstorms will be experienced over the regions of Northern Mindanao, ARMM, Davao and Zamboanga Peninsula, Pagasa said.
Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening will prevail over the rest of the country.
Light to moderate winds blowing from the east to southeast will prevail over the whole country and the coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate. AC