LAST April 20 Pagasa recorded a temperature of 36.2 degrees Celsius in Metro Manila. With the heat index, the "feels like" factor reached a high of 43 C. While that certainly feels hot, we Manila folk know that's not the hottest it's been and it can still get even hotter. At our Malacañang briefing two weeks ago, Pagasa revealed that the El Niño phenomenon would exacerbate the dry spell starting in the second half of this year, with its full impact of potential drought affecting the country in the first quarter of 2024. It will still get hotter in May.
By now we know, if you track the science, that El Niño and La Niña take alternate turns on both sides of the Pacific. Though El Niño usually spells prolonged dry season in our side of the world, it could also bring about heightened precipitation in the western side of the Philippines, as the currents interact with the habagat, or southwest monsoon. Typhoon "Ondoy" of 2009 was such an example. Extreme weather conditions can adversely affect our agriculture, health, energy and water resources. The sectoral meeting in Malacañang involved all the agencies and departments like defense, energy, environment, science and technology, agriculture, and others.
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