Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Philippines: Cebu's Monsoon Season Has Begun, Drought Ended



There was a severe drought in Cebu so much so that corn farmers lost their crop.

A May 13, 2015 article in the Cebu Daily News says, "The Cebu City Council yesterday  declared 31 upland barangays  under a state of calamity because of the effects of the dry spell. This will enable the city to tap disaster funds for relief operations in   areas  which need it, said Councilor Gerry Carillon."


As I write this, it's pouring outside like it'll never stop. Here in Cebu it's been sunny in the morning, but it rains in the afternoon.

My friends said the drought was broken not too long ago. Even though we got rained on during the fiesta of St. John the Baptist last June 24, people did not mind.

I have not heard any complaints about the rain, even though it causes flooding and bad traffic and some degree of chaos. Not a word. People whip out their umbrellas or don their raincoats and go about their business. (If it's very bad, they take shelter until it let's up.)




I imagine if California's drought in California should end that people would be very  happy.

Here's weather information about the Philippines from this site.

Summer Southwest Monsoon - Habagat

Summer Monsoon weather is characterized by a strong, generally West or southwest breeze that is responsible for bringing significant rainfall to the Asian subcontinent and to South and East Asia. The significant southwest monsoon rainfall is a by-product of air passing over large areas of warm equatorial ocean, stimulating increased levels of evaporation from the ocean's surface; the southwest monsoon air, now laden with water vapour, cools as it moves north and as it rises over land; at some point the air is no longer able retain its moisture and precipitates copious volumes to irrigate rice fields and drench rainforests, sometimes causing severe flooding below hillsides that have been stripped of forest cover. The Summer Monsoon (West or southwest) is the predominant weather pattern from late April through to early October each year, throughout most Asian tropical destinations.

Winter Northeast Monsoon - Amihan

Winter Monsoon weather features a generally less strong, East or northeast breeze that is cool and dry (compared to the Summer Monsoon weather) with prolonged periods of successive cloudless days. The Winter Monsoon (North or northeast) features cool and dry air that originates in a vast anticyclone - a weather system with a high barometric pressure - which forms over Siberia, Mongolia and northern China during each northern winter. The Winter Monsoon air from the anticyclone pushes outward in a clockwise motion from its centre and competes with the Summer Monsoon over a period of a week or two, usually starting in late September and early October, before finally dominating the weather with a cooler and drier northeast monsoon, in most Asian tropical and sub-tropical destinations, through to the following April.


May is the hottest month; January is the coolest month.

Read also
Remembering When Rain Had Gender




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