It’s still cold season even if it’s hot—Pagasa

It’s hard to believe that the cold season is not yet over.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that extreme northern Luzon experienced a surge in the northeast monsoon on Friday even though the rest of the country was affected by the hot and humid easterlies.

Because of this, the weather bureau said it could not yet declare the end of the northeast monsoon season which brings cold weather.

But the end of the northeast monsoon is “imminent,” Pagasa said. Its end would allow the weather bureau to officially declare the onset of the dry season even though temperatures have been rising since the start of the month.

With an ongoing strong El Niño episode, Pagasa warned of significantly reduced rainfall and warmer air temperatures, especially over the western section of Mindanao during the dry season.

So far, the hottest temperature this year was recorded in General Santos City on March 1 when the temperature reached 38.6 degrees Celsius.

In Metro Manila, the hottest day so far was March 7 when the temperature soared to 35.5 degrees.

Pagasa weather division chief Esperanza Cayanan said they would consider issuing an early warning system for extreme heat.