More granular, location-specific heat indexes sought

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) should come up with more granular and location-specific heat indexes to guide schools and local government units to remove the “arbitrariness” in class suspensions because of extreme heat, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education, said that the more granular and location-specific heat indexes would be similar to the examples of tropical cyclone signals, which serve as the bases for class cancellations.

“It is important to provide schools and local government units with the necessary information so that they can respond because a lack of information may also lead to a lack of advanced and strategic response, which can be detrimental to our students,” Gatchalian told PAGASA.

Marcelino Villafuerte II, PAGASA deputy administrator for research and development, said that while the agency has limitations on its observation network, it is already exploring methods to estimate temperature values without a sensor.

Villafuerte added that the agency is also exploring other science-based approaches to determine or at least estimate the temperature and heat index for a particular location.