The northeast monsoon, or Amihan, may end earlier than forecasted due to El Niño, the state weather bureau PAGASA said on Thursday.
"Usually, because the Amihan season is up to the first half of March, actually last year, we terminated the northeast monsoon on 21 March," said PAGASA Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section chief Analiza Solis in a radio interview.
"So from what we can see right now, it's a bit earlier than what we declared last year,” she added.
Earlier weather forecasts of PAGASA showed the Amihan season may end in March.
Moreover, Solis said that currently, the highest temperature this year was 37.1°C recorded in Zamboanga City last 15 February.
Meanwhile, the hottest temperature in Metro Manila was recorded in Pasay City last 6 February at 32.3 °C.
"We have recorded the actual temperatures that are that hot, about 37 °C, but in terms of the heat factor," the PAGASA official continued, explaining that these derived heat indexes cannot be registered by weather instruments.
"What records this is our discomfort," Solis said.
She noted that warmer days should be expected, especially at the onset of the warm and dry seasons.
Last January, temperatures lower than 9°C were recorded in Northern Luzon areas, particularly in Baguio City and Benguet.