Baguio church goers brave 11.5-degree cold at start of Misa de Gallo

Baguio carolers. Enterprising boys perform indigenous dances along downtown Session Road as their way of spreading yuletide cheer on Saturday. Temperatures dropped to 11.5 degrees Celsius at 5 a.m. on Saturday. Photo by Vincent Cabreza

BAGUIO CITY—It was a freezing start for Misa de Gallo here when morning temperatures slid down to 11.5 degrees Celsius at 5 a.m. on Saturday.

The mercury had dropped from 14.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and Thursday to 12.5 degrees Celsius on Friday morning.

The Saturday morning temperature was the lowest recorded in the mountain city since the onset of the northeast monsoon on October 27, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

The chilly weather, which lasts until late February, draws as many as 500,000 tourists to the Summer Capital.

The number could even double, according to local officials, with the opening of the Pozorrubio exit at the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) which cuts travel time from Manila to less than four hours. Karlston Lapniten INQ