PAGASA: Rainy season is here

CEBU, Philippines - After a long dry spell, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said that rainy days have arrived.

“As of today (yesterday) we already experienced scattered rainshowers. By the middle of June until December, ting-uwan na. Daghan gyud mga farmers ani ang malipay,” PAGASA weather forecaster Ella Comahig said.

Comahig added that we now have cloudy skies which indicate that the rainy season is here.

PAGASA spotted yesterday a low pressure area east of Taiwan estimated based on satellite and surface data at 490 kilometers West of Basco, Batanes.

PAGASA added that this weather disturbance will continue to bring scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms over Northern and Central Luzon becoming widespread rains over extreme Northern Luzon.

According to PAGASA’s El Niño Advisory No. 9, the moderate El Niño over the equatorial Pacific that started in June 2009 has weakened during the second half of April but still within the weak El Niño threshold.

Overall, the tropical Pacific is cooling gradually and the return to neutral conditions may be expected this June 2010, the advisory said.

The advisory further stated that areas that experienced dry spell conditions as of April were Cebu, Negros Oriental, Leyte and Samar provinces, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Davao del Norte, Surigao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.

Drought conditions were observed over the provinces of Rizal, Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental having five consecutive months of below to way below normal rainfall.

Impact assessment in agriculture due to crop damage was estimated at P12 billion as per the National Disaster Coordinating Council report dated April 29, 2010. -- /BRP (THE FREEMAN)