‘Tis ‘almost’ the rainy season — Pagasa

MT Satellite image June 23, 2015, 6:32 a.m. Screengrab from https://kidlat.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/index.php

It is “almost” the rainy season, the weather bureau told Inquirer.net Tuesday morning.

In an interview, weather observer Elvie Enriquez said the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has “not officially” declared the onset of the rainy season.

Enriquez explained while it already felt and appeared that rainy days had come, a “very small” requirement had yet to be met for Pagasa to make an official announcement.

“At least five weather stations (in the country) should record at least one millimeter of rain per day for three consecutive days,” she said.

As of Monday, June 22, 2015, four weather stations recorded such conditions and one — in Mindoro — had measurements that missed the requirement by a “very small” amount, Enriquez said.

She said Pagasa would make an announcement about the onset of the rainy season at its 9 a.m., Tuesday, press briefing.

Meanwhile, the intertropical convergence zone in Mindanao will dump light to moderate rain in parts of the archipelago on Tuesday, Pagasa said.

“Cloudy skies with light to moderate rain and thunderstorms will be experienced over Western and Central Visayas, Mindanao and the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, Mindoro and Palawan,” according to Pagasa’s 5 a.m. bulletin.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

Moderate to occasionally strong winds blowing from the southwest going to the south will prevail over the western section of Luzon. Its coastal waters will be moderate to occasionally rough, Pagasa said.

Winds will be light to moderate coming from the southwest going south over the rest of Luzon and from the southwest to the west over the rest of the country with slight to moderate seas. CB