Caught in the Rain - Mike Barr
The PAG-ASA scientists were right about the rains coming in June.
It rained for the first time in months last week. I’m officially saying goodbye to warm mornings laying on sweat-drenched bedsheets. While I dislike shelving my slippers for more waterproof shoes, the cooler ambient temperature of the rainy season is reason to celebrate—definitely much more comfortable than the El Nino nightmare that defined the hottest summer in the history of the Philippines!
Where was I when the first drop bombardment of raindrops fell on Metro Manila? I was reviewing for board exams in Starbucks Katipunan. I had a feeling it was going to rain that day so I brought a huge umbrella and a pair of knee-high rubber boots just in case.
The umbrella kept the top half of my body dry but everything below my waist got wet by the rain. The major casualty: my feet. I made the mistake of wearing cloth-lined slippers which absorbed rainwater like sponges in a bathtub. Good thing I had boots! I wore them in ankle-deep streams of rainwater running across the street in front of Xocolat. But I had to wear them for the rest of the night because my slippers were totally wet.
It’s been raining almost everyday ever since. The rain season has finally come. This is what PAG-ASA had to say about the recent weather patterns:
The development of a series of low pressure systems, also known as heat lows, in the southern part of mainland Asia that linked with the low pressure area near Northern Luzon has generated and sustained the southwesterly winds in the country which brought rains for several days especially in the western section of the country. This development signals the onset of the rainy season on the 1st week of June in areas under Type 1 climate, which covers the western parts of Luzon and Visayas.
Essentially, they said that the rainy season is here–awesome! They continued:
The rainy season which is associated with the Southwest Monsoon is expected to last until end of September. However, monsoon breaks or periods of no rain for a few weeks are expected during the season.
If anything can be expected, the 2010 rainy season is going to be like the 2009 rainy season (hopefully minus the supertyphoons). There is going to be periods of rain, and periods of really hot weather. AUGH!
With the increasing probability of the occurence of La Niña beginning on the 3rd quarter of this year that can result to above normal rainfall, residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes are advised to take precausionary measures againts possible flash floods and landslides during periods of heavy rains.
Well, I spoke too soon. We can’t say PAG-ASA didn’t warn us… La Nina is coming in the 3rd quarter of this year. That means we should expect heavy rainfall during the months between August and October—just about the same time that Ondoy and Pepeng hit the Philippines last year. It really happens every year. We just never learn to deal with it the right way.
Already the typhoons are coming so we better be prepared for the 2010 rainy season!
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