Heat to persist till winds blow back

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

EXPECT Mindanao’s high temperatures and humidity to persist in the remaining days of August but the conditions would likely become the exact opposite next month due to changing wind directions, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday.

Luz Mercado, a weather specialist of the Pagasa station in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental, said the weather bureau expects colder conditions, heavy downpours and even storms in Mindanao starting September up to December when the winds change directions.

Mercado blamed the rising temperatures here to southwest monsoon winds from the Pacific Ocean that have been pushing clouds from Mindanao to Luzon. Simply put, it’s raining hard in Luzon because it is at the receiving end.

As of 11 am yesterday, the temperature rose to 34.4 degrees Celsius in Misamis Oriental  and Cagayan de Oro. The reason for this, according to Mercado, is because the monsoon winds prevented the formation of cumulonimbus, altocumulus and cirrus clouds (low-altitude, middle altitude and high altitude clouds) over Mindanao.

“Nipis man ang formation sa clouds  tungod sa hanging habagat,” said Mercado, explaining that the clouds serve as a shade or prevent the sun’s heat from penetrating.

“Mao nang igang kaayo,” she said.

There are no indications yet that it’s going to be rainy in Mindanao during the remaining days of August although local thunderstorms are always a possibility.

Mindanao, she said, is still experiencing “neutral conditions” despite the threat of the La Niña phenomenon.

“Neutral conditions ang atong weather  bulletin. Dili daghan ang number of rainfall ug kon na-ay ulan, dili kusog ug  dali ra moundang,” said Mercado.

Since Aug. 7, Pagasa recorded no downpour in Mindanao.

Mercado said this was due to low pressure area at the Batanes group of islands.

“Kon asa gani ang  location sa low pressure area, didto usab ang  daghan nga formation sa  clouds, maoy hinongdan nga wala kitay recorded rainfall dinhi sa ato since Aug. 7 tungod sa low pressure area didto sa Northern Luzon nga didto ang concentration sa clouds formation.”

The last recorded rainfalls in Mindanao were during the Aug. 1-Aug. 6 period. Pagasa said there were 2.0 millimeters of actual rainfall in Aug. 1, 1.6 millimeters in Aug. 2, none in Aug. 3, 2.0 millimeters in Aug. 4, 2.3 millimeters in Aug. 5 and 2.6 millimeters in Aug. 6.

Mercado said the Aug. 1-Aug. 6 rainfall were not enough for farmlands.

Farmers however could expect to see sufficient rainfall from September to December.

“Fifty percent sa atong ulan sa Pilipinas, gikan sa bagyo. Sa bulan sa September to December, tingbagyo man, so daghan tag ulan nianang panahona,” Mercado said.