The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration declared on Friday that the 'summer' season has begun, as the Amihan season has been officially terminated.
"Today, we officially declare the start of the Philippine summer based on analysis of latest forecast," said PAGASA chief Dr. Nathaniel Servando.
"We expect [that] the number of warm and dryer days will increase in the coming weeks and in the coming months," he added.
According to PAGASA, there is technically no summer in the Philippines, for it only has two major seasons: rainy from June to November and dry from December to May, which the Filipinos refer to as ‘summer.’
The weather state bureau explained that “the dry season may be subdivided further into (a) the cool dry season, from December to February; and (b) the hot dry season, from March to May.”
Meanwhile, PAGASA Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section chief Analiza Solis said that La Niña is still pre-developing.
“What we said is around 55 percent probability, at least six months from now, it is possible that La Niña will form. It is somewhat weak right now," she said.
“We see an increasing probability, more than 60 percent,” she continued, adding that based on the bureau’s El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Alert System, it still falls under La Niña Watch.
“Meaning, we are not yet on La Niña Alert. When PAGASA releases the La Niña Alert, that means it is at a level of more than 70 percent, meaning there is already a guarantee that in the next two to three months, La Niña will arrive,” Solis said.
Under the PAGASA ENSO alert and warning system, four stages are being classified: La Niña watch, La Niña alert, La Niña advisory, and La Niña final advisory.
The La Niña watch alert was issued in the first week of March.