The public must brace for hot weather during the Holy Week, with rain showers in most parts of the country due to easterlies coming from the Pacific Ocean accompanied by the impact of the El Niño episode, the state weather bureau said Sunday.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecast a heat index of 42 degrees Celsius in Puerto Princesa City and Aborlan, both in Palawan, by Tuesday, after it reached a high of 46 C in Bacnotan, La Union on Sunday.
The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. This has important considerations for the human body’s comfort.
PAGASA also reported the 10 highest temperatures as of March 23 at 8 p.m., with San Jose, Occidental Mindoro sizzling at 36.5 degrees Celsius. Metro Manila was at 33.7 degrees Celsius.
According to the weather bureau, there will be an average eight hours of sunshine per day in the Philippines for the rest of March. On March 22, PAGASA declared the onset of the warm and dry season or the so-called summer.
The strengthening of the North Pacific High led to a gradual shift in the wind pattern from northeasterly to easterly, and an increase in the air temperature over most parts of the country, the weather bureau said.
By Good Friday, Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms, mostly in the afternoon or evening due to the easterlies, PAGASA said in its weekly forecast.
“In the coming months, the number of dry and warm days across the country will continue to increase, although isolated thunderstorms are also likely to occur, usually in the afternoon or evening,” it added.
With the ongoing El Niño, a significant reduction from the normal rainfall or drier-than-usual conditions will likely continue, which may bring negative impacts in most areas of the country, it cited.
This developed as the global average sea level rose by about 0.3 inches (0.76 centimeters) from 2022 to 2023—nearly four times the increase of the previous year—the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Thursday, attributing the “significant jump” to a strong El Niño and a warming climate.
The NASA-led analysis is based on more than 30 years of satellite observations, with the initial satellite launching in 1992 and the latest in 2020.
Overall, sea levels have risen by around four inches since 1993. The rate of increase has also accelerated, more than doubling from 0.07 inches per year in 1993, to the current rate of 0.17 inches per year. With AFP