Colder days ahead; chills in Baguio City Cordillera highlands

BAGUIO CITY – Bring along your jackets and sweaters if you visit this summer capital or other Cordillera highlands as temperature has dipped. 

In the coming days, expect colder temperatures especially mornings because the northeasterly wind is prevailing, a sign that Christmas is near.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said last week gradual decrease in minimum temperatures, both day and night, are expected beginning this month.

The temperature dropped to 13.6 degrees Celsius in this summer resort Tuesday and is expected to  dip further, PAGASA said.

The temperature is two degrees lower in Benguet while Atok, the highest point in Benguet, is colder, PAGASA said.

Mt. Pulag in Kabayan town, the second highest peak in the country, records lower temperatures compared to Atok and this city.

Baguio recorded its coldest temperature on Jan. 19, 1961 at 6.3 degrees.

The lowest temperature this year was in January at 9.6 degrees Celsius.

PAGASA said colder days are ahead because the northeasterly wind is prevailing. The gradual drop in the temperature is expected beginning this month, it added.

Ana Liza Solis, officer-in-charge of PAGASA’s climate monitoring and prediction section, said Filipinos could also experience colder Christmas season this year than in 2015.

Solis noted that January and February are generally the coldest months in the Philippines as this is the period when the northeast monsoon reaches its peak.

Based on the PAGASA’s climate data, the coldest temperature in the country’s summer capital Baguio City was 6.3 degrees recorded in January 1961.

The lowest temperature in Metro Manila was 14.6 degrees recorded in February 1962.

PAGASA announced the onset of the northeast monsoon last week.

But Solis said above normal rainfall are still forecast for most parts of Visayas and Mindanao, especially the eastern section, until January next year due to “borderline” La Niña.

“We expect more rains due to borderline La Niña,” she added.

Experts from international weather agencies said the difference between a weak La Niña event (averaging around a -0.75 degrees Celsius sea surface temperature anomaly) and a borderline one (averaging -0.5 degrees Celsius anomaly) is “fairly small.”

Experts said this means that a borderline event is still expected to have, on average, weaker impacts in rainfall.