Trekkers warned: Pulag too cold

BAGUIO CITY—The temperature continued to slide down in this mountain city on Sunday when it hit 9.2 degrees Celsius at 5 a.m., according to the weather bureau, prompting some officials to warn against hypothermia for people planning to go on a trek to what could be the coldest area in the north in Mt. Pulag.

On Saturday, people here woke up to a chilly 9.6 degrees Celsius.

Organizers of the monthlong Panagbenga or the Baguio Flower Festival used the chill to its advantage when it included the city’s latest weather reports in their spiels as they entertained tourists during a kite flying and painting activity at Burnham Park here.

Families came out wearing sweaters but kept their thicker jackets in bags while they snacked at the park on midday.

Flower vendors outside the park’s Melvin Jones football field said they hoped the falling temperature would continue until Tuesday because, they noted, it would “generate an air of romance on Valentine’s Day.”

But the cold spell meant mountain trekkers should take proper precautions.

People living at Mt. Sto. Tomas between Baguio City and Tuba town in Benguet province shivered on Sunday morning when temperature there dropped to 7.4 degrees Celsius, said Wilson Locando, Baguio weather observer of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

The Mt. Pulag National Park has no weather station that monitors the temperature but frost has been detected there, according to Emelita Albas, the park superintendent.

Mt. Pulag (with an altitude of 2,922 meters) is the highest peak in Luzon that straddles towns in Benguet, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya.

“All trekkers are advised to bring body warmers to avoid hypothermia and other necessities [like] lip balm, bonnets, mufflers and comforters. Nothing beats a prepared trekker,” Albas said in a text message. —VINCENT CABREZA