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Expect ‘episodes of wind and cold temperature surges’ in the coming months due to the onset of the northeast monsoon season
MANILA, Philippines – The northeast monsoon or amihan season is finally underway, the Philippines’ weather bureau announced on Tuesday, November 19.
“The northeasterly wind flow is expected to be more dominant in most of the country, bringing cold and dry air,” said the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) in a statement on Tuesday.
“Episodes of wind and cold temperature surges, as well as increasing prevalence of rough sea conditions, especially over the seaboards of Luzon, are also expected in the coming months,” added PAGASA.
The weather bureau explained that an indication of the onset of the northeast monsoon season was the strengthening of a high pressure area over Siberia in recent days.
That led to “a strong surge of northeasterly winds which is expected to affect the northern portion of Luzon” starting Tuesday and Wednesday, November 20.
Delayed onset
The northeast monsoon season typically lasts from October until February or March, which means its onset in 2024 is delayed.
It came more than a month after the termination of the southwest monsoon or habagat season, which ended in early October this year.
Ana Liza Solis, chief of PAGASA’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section, told Rappler that they had observed the northeasterly wind flow in extreme Northern Luzon in the first week of November, but it was not sustained.
“A weakened pressure gradient between the land and sea, changes in the jet stream pattern, warmer sea surface temperatures, or large-scale weather events like El Niño could weaken or delay the onset of amihan in the Philippines, as well as global weather patterns,” Solis said on Tuesday.
In early June, PAGASA had announced that El Niño was over. The 2023-2024 El Niño episode caused droughts in parts of the Philippines and agricultural losses worth billions of pesos.
PAGASA is currently monitoring the potential development of La Niña in the tropical Pacific.
There is a 71% chance of a “short-lived” La Niña or La Niña-like conditions developing in the October-December period, which may persist until the first quarter of 2025.
For the Philippines, La Niña would trigger more rain. – Rappler.com
