El Niño to last up to June, says PAG-ASA

The gradual decrease in sea surface temperature is expected to still be within the El Niño threshold and likely to sustain its moderate strength as it continues in its mature stage which will last up to June 2010.

Thus revealed Ricardo Mercado, Officer-in-Charge of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomic Services Administration (PAG-ASA), region 10, who said the rainfall condition within the period, will likely be below normal over most parts of the country.

Exempted from this condition, however, are some areas in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley and the eastern part of Mindanao where near normal rainfall is expected while the rest of the country will likely experience way below normal rainfall condition.

Provinces that are still under dry spell condition and will continue to experience the drought condition are those of Benguet, Batanes, Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Nueva Viscaya, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Batangas, Iloilo, Antique, Guimaras, Negros Occidental and Capiz.

Meanwhile, Mercado said the climate last month was influenced by the North East (NE) monsoon, tail-end of the cold front, ridge of high pressure area (HPA), easterly wave and a slim chance for a tropical cyclone occurrence.

Slightly warmer surface temperatures were experienced for the month: 200C to 330C over the lowlands of Luzon, 130C to 240C for the mountainous areas of Luzon, 220C to 320C for Visayas, 220C to 330C and 180C to 290C over the lowlands and over the mountainous areas of Mindanao, respectively.

Last January, the weather systems that influenced the rainfall condition were the NE monsoon, the tail-end of a cold front, the ridge of HPA, the low pressure area (LPA) and the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) that caused continuous heavy rains affecting the CARAGA Region, which, triggered flooding and landslides in the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Island. (PIA 10)

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