Have your rain gear ready!
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has announced that 14 tropical cyclones may enter the country this year.
This is considerably lower than the average of 19 to 20 cyclones that’s expected to enter the Philippines every year.
Anthony Lucero, chief of the PAGASA’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section, attributed the lower number of cyclones to El Niño.
In its latest bulletin, though, PAGASA pointed out that “a majority of climate models suggest that El Niño has started to weaken.”
“Even so, Lucero said below normal rainfall conditions are still expected in most parts of Luzon and the Visayas until next month, while significant portions of Mindanao have been predicted to have near normal to above normal rainfall starting this month” reports Janvic Mateo in The Philippine Star.
Lucero explained, “Drought and dry spell outlook for the month show that 23 provinces will likely experience drought and 39 may have dry spell.”
In any case, PAGASA said that La Niña would likely develop in the latter part of this year.
