By ELLALYN V. RUIZ
The amount of rainfall dumped over Metro Manila at the height of the southwest monsoon or “habagat” last Saturday reached more than half the total rainfall average in the metropolis this month.
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration data from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. yesterday at the Science Garden monitoring station in Quezon City revealed 270 millimeters of torrential monsoon rains were dumped over a large part of Metro Manila, more than half the total rainfall average in August of 504 mm.
However, the amount of accumulated rainfall was still lower than the 455-mm six-hour rainfall dumped by typhoon “Ondoy” (international name “Ketsana”) in 2009.
PAGASA weather specialist Meno Mendoza said the southwest monsoon will continue to affect Luzon and Visayas as tropical storm “Karding” (international name “Yagi”) continues to enhance the impacts of habagat. Karding was estimated at 625 kilometers north-northeast of extreme Northern Luzon yesterday morning.
The other tropical cyclone off the West Philippine Sea that also helped enhance the effects of habagat has weakened into a low-pressure area, thus having minimal influence on the monsoon circulation.
Mendoza said monsoon rains will not be as intense as last Saturday’s rains but light to moderate to at times heavy rains will still prevail over Metro Manila, Batanes, Babuyan Group of Islands, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan.
Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and the rest of Luzon will have cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms, while Mindanao and the rest of Visayas will experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers.
PAGASA advised residents in these areas to take appropriate actions against possible flooding and landslides due to moderate to occasional heavy rains or thunderstorms.
