It was scorching hot everywhere in the country on Thursday, according to the weather bureau.
The heat index, or the temperature felt by the body based on air temperature and humidity, soared beyond 40 degrees Celsius in 75 percent of the country’s 53 weather stations that day.
The heat index record came close to being broken for the third time this week, again in Nueva Ecija where the heat index reached 52.1 degrees Celsius due to the high air temperature of 37 degrees Celsius combined with high humidity.
A record heat index was made last April 12 when the weather station in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, estimated the highest temperature felt by the body that day at 52.3 degrees Celsius.
Even in Baguio City, the country’s summer capital, the heat index reached a maximum 30.5 degrees Celsius.
Of the 53 weather stations of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), 40 weather stations recorded a maximum heat index ranging from 40.2 degrees Celsius (in Coron, Palawan) to 52.1 degrees Celsius (in Cabanatuan City) on Thursday.
For the rest of the weather stations, the maximum heat index ranged from 30.5 degrees Celsius (in Baguio City) to 39.5 degrees Celsius (in Aparri, Cagayan, and in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte) that day.
In Metro Manila, the heat index reached a maximum 41.9 degrees Celsius at the weather station at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, 43.2 degrees Celsius at the Pagasa Science Garden in Quezon City and 46.5 degrees Celsius at the Port Area, Manila.
Pagasa warns the public of danger when the heat index hits 41 degrees Celsius and higher, as this may cause heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke and of “extreme danger” when the heat index breaches 54 degrees Celsius.
As this developed, the strong El Niño which is causing food insecurity in some parts of southern Philippines is likely to be over by June or July, but may be followed by excessively wet conditions later this year.
According to the latest update from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US NOAA), its Climate Prediction Center observed that higher-than-normal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Pacific Ocean have “weakened appreciably” over the past month.
The US NOAA said other indicators such as those observed from below the ocean surface and from wind behavior continue to reflect a weakening El Niño.
“Nearly all [climate prediction] models predict further weakening of El Niño, with a transition to neutral likely during late spring or early summer 2016,” the agency said, referring to June and July. With a report by Ronnel W. Domingo