Pagasa declares start of rainy season; 11-16 more cyclones before yearend

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Bring out your rain coats and umbrellas! The rainy season is here!

The state weather bureau declared on Tuesday the onset of rainy season in the Philippines.

READ: Pagasa: Rainy season coming | ‘Tis ‘almost’ the rainy season — Pagasa

In a press conference, Dr. Vicente Malano, officer-in-charge of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said that rainy season is expected to last for three months especially in the western section of the country.

Malano said that the weather agency expects one to two tropical cyclones to hit the country in the remainder of this month , three to five in July, two to four in August and September, two to three in October, one to two in November and up to one tropical cyclone in December.

He said that the El Niño, which will be felt from October to the first quarter in 2016, may lessen the amount of rainfall but will not prevent the formation of strong typhoons which usually hit the country towards the last quarter of the year.

“We are not discounting the (formation of strong typhoons due to the El Niño). Typhoons are formed when there is a vacuum,” Malano said.

Meanwhile, Pagasa said that El Niño will intensify during the second half of 2015.

Last year, the onset of the rainy season was declared at June 10. El Niño delayed the onset of the rainy season for this year, the weather agency earlier said. IDL