Expect humid weather – PAGASA

MANILA, Philippines — Humid weather is expected to prevail as the southwest monsoon has weakened, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.

At a briefing, PAGASA weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio said the easterlies or warm wind from the Pacific Ocean is currently affecting the country.

“The southwest monsoon has weakened further and it is easterlies that is currently affecting the eastern portion of the country,” Aurelio said.

He added that the weather bureau does not expect a low-pressure area or typhoon to occur.

“We will experience warmer weather compared (to) yesterday,” Aurelio said.

However, he said that isolated rains brought by thunderstorms can be experienced in the afternoon or evening.

Meanwhile, three dams in Luzon continue to release water as the level of the reservoirs continue increasing amid the rains experienced last week.

One gate of Ambuklao Dam in Benguet is still open at .5 meters after it reached 751.33 meters or .67 meters below its normal high water level of 752 meters.

Binga Dam in Benguet is also releasing water after it reached 574.40 meters or 0.6 meters below its normal high water level of 575 meters.

One gate of Magat Dam in Isabela is also open at one meter after it reached 185.95 meters or 4.04 meters below its normal high water level of 190 meters.

Meanwhile, the water level of Angat Dam increased by 0.25 meters after it reached 195.56 meters but is still 14.44 meters below its normal high water level of 210 meters.

Angat Dam supplies more than 90 percent of Metro Manila’s potable water needs and provides for the irrigation needs of 25,000 hectares of farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga.

On the other hand, Ipo Dam in Bulacan reached 100.20 meters or 0.9 meters below its normal high water level of 101.1 meters; La Mesa Dam in Quezon City at 79.38 meters or 0.77 meters below its spilling level of 80.15 meters; San Roque Dam in Pangasinan, 272.07 meters or 7.93 meters below its normal high water level of 280 meters and Caliraya Dam in Laguna, 287.15 meters or 0.7 meters higher compared to its previous level of 286.45 meters.

$39 million climate change project

Meanwhile, the government has started implementing a $39.2-million (P2.185-billion) project that will capacitate at least 250,000 farmers nationwide to cope with the climate crisis and mitigate the ill effects on their food production systems.

The Department of Agriculture (DA), PAGASA and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently signed a tripartite agreement for the operationalization of a seven-year climate mitigation project.

The project, called Adapting Philippine Agriculture to Climate Change (APA), will be rolled out in at least 100 municipalities across nine provinces in five regions with the aim of boosting farmers’ resilience, according to the DA.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. described the APA as an expansion and intensification of the DA’s existing adaptation and mitigation initiative in agriculture program that seeks to assist more farmers vulnerable to climate change. — Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas