La Niña to be felt until February - Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) yesterday said that a “weak to moderate La Niña” would be felt beginning next month until early next year.

Pagasa’s supervising undersecretary Graciano Yumul said information provided by the World Meteorological Organization showed that the peak of La Niña would be on December 2011 to February 2012.

Yumul assured the public that Pagasa would continue to be vigilant in monitoring weather developments.

This is not the first time that the country would experience a La Niña phenomenon.

In 2008, the month of January was considered as a La Niña month. “Too much rain caused floods and landslides. A lot of mudcrab and fish ponds overflowed in Samar that time affecting the fisherfolks,” said Yumul.

January of 2009 was also classified as a La Niña-like month because for the first time in 50 years, Cagayan de Oro was flooded. “(There was) massive flooding in Mindanao,” he said.

The El Niño, meanwhile, prevailed during the first month of 2010, during which the country only received the normal volume of rainfall.