Mature El Niño to end this February - PAGASA
(FILE) Farmers in North Cotabato plant vegetables instead of rice as the dry season has arrived in parts of Mindanao. In its recent advice, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration cautioned the public that a strong El Niño is expected to endure until February, while global climate models forecast it would continue until May.
Dianne Bacelonia
The weather state bureau PAGASA said on Friday that the peak of El Niño is currently experienced in the country and is forecast to end this February.
In a televised interview, a PAGASA key official said that El Niño will still persist until May but noted that it will begin to degrade.
"That's why even if the El Niño weakens or the temperature in the Pacific Ocean cools down, because that is our indicator of whether an El Niño is strong, moderate, or weak, the impact that we will experience here in our country in terms of sectoral impacts, that's what we'll experience a bit,” said PAGASA Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section chief Analiza Solis.
Solis said that from May and June, there will be areas that will experience rain, but it will not be that much.
"In addition to that, what we are saying is that our temperature is getting a little hotter now, so we need to take care of our health measures as well,” she added.
PAGASA said on Thursday that the northeast monsoon, or Amihan season, may end earlier than forecasted to be in March due to El Niño.
Moreover, the agency reported earlier that a total of 41 provinces are currently affected by the onslaught of the weather phenomenon, a decline from the 21 January 2024 assessment, wherein 50 provinces were recorded.
Solis explained that due to the continuous rains that impounded the Mindanao region last December and January, some areas had been relieved of rainwater.
"What happened was that the areas under drought conditions decreased, but it went to the areas under dry spell conditions. So we can see, still, that more than 80 provinces are still potentially affected by the effects of El Niño that may have dry conditions, dry spells, and droughts, so the level is only going down during the reduction of rainwater," she added.
The Task Force El Niño reported over the weekend that the agricultural sector has incurred damages and losses amounting to P151.3 million, mainly in the crops of Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.