Phl to experience longer days after March 21

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and other countries in the northern hemisphere will experience longer days and shorter nights after the vernal equinox on March 21, the state weather bureau said yesterday.

The astronomical event marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

The weather bureau said the sun reaches the vernal equinox at 12:57 a.m. on March 21.

Jose Mendoza, chief of PAGASA’s astronomical publication unit, explained that the sun crosses the earth’s equator during the vernal equinox, making night and day approximately equal in length.

The term equinox is derived from the Latin word aequus that means equal, and nox, which means night.

Mendoza said after the vernal equinox, daylight hours would be longer.

“Today (March 6) sunrise was at 6:10 a.m. and the sunset at 6:05 p.m. On March 21, the sunrise is at 6 a.m. and the sunset at 6:07 p.m.,” he said, making sunrise 10 minutes earlier and sunset two minutes later.

By June, the sun will rise as early as 5:27 a.m., Mendoza said.

Meanwhile, PAGASA said the public can expect relatively warmer weather in most parts of the country for the rest of the week.

Good weather is expected with isolated light rains over Luzon and the Visayas until Monday next week.

Western and Central Mindanao will experience partly cloudy skies while the rest of Mindanao will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms in the afternoon.

The weather agency has yet to declare the start of summer in the country as the northeast monsoon still prevails over Luzon and the Visayas.

It said the start of summer is declared once the easterlies become the dominant weather system in the country. The weather bureau declared the onset of summer last year on March 18.