Climate of the Philippines

Tropical - Tropical climates are characterized by monthly average temperatures of 18 ℃ (64.4

℉) or higher year-round and feature hot temperatures. There are normally only two seasons in
tropical climates, a wet season and a dry season.

Maritime - Maritime area means any area of water, land, or water and land bordering on the
sea or any estuary, river, creek, or lake.

The Climate of the Philippines is tropical and maritime. It is characterized by relatively high
temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall. It is similar in many respects to the climate of
the countries of Central America. Temperature, humidity, and rainfall, which are discussed
hereunder, are the most important elements of the country's weather and climate.

Temperature
Based on the average of all weather stations in the Philippines, excluding Baguio, the mean
annual temperature is 26.6o C. The coolest months fall in January with a mean temperature of
25.5oC while the warmest month occurs in May with a mean temperature of 28.3oC. Latitude is
an insignificant factor in the variation of temperature while altitude shows greater contrast in
temperature. Thus, the mean annual temperature of Baguio with an elevation of 1,500 meters is
18.3oC. This makes the temperature of Baguio comparable with those in the temperate climate
and because of this, it is known as the summer capital of the Philippines.

The difference between the mean annual temperature of the southernmost station in
Zamboanga and that of the northernmost station in Laoag is insignificant. In other words, there
is essentially no difference in the mean annual temperature of places in Luzon, Visayas or
Mindanao measured at or near sea level.

Humidity
Humidity refers to the moisture content of the atmosphere. Due to high temperature and the
surrounding bodies of water, the Philippines has a high relative humidity. The average monthly
relative humidity varies between 71 percent in March and 85 percent in September. The
combination of warm temperature and high relative and absolute humidity give rise to high
sensible temperature throughout the archipelago. It is especially uncomfortable during March to
May, when temperature and humidity attain their maximum levels.

Rainfall
Rainfall is the most important climatic element in the Philippines. Rainfall distribution throughout
the country varies from one region to another, depending upon the direction of the moisture-
bearing winds and the location of the mountain systems.
The mean annual rainfall of the Philippines varies from 965 to 4,064 millimeters annually.
Baguio City, eastern Samar, and eastern Surigao receive the greatest amount of rainfall while
the southern portion of Cotabato receives the least amount of rain. At General Santos City in
Cotabato, the average annual rainfall is only 978 millimeters.

The Seasons
Using temperature and rainfall as bases, the climate of the country can be divided into two
major seasons: (1) the rainy season, from June to November; and (2) the dry season, from
December to May. The dry season may be subdivided further into (a) the cool dry season,
from December to February; and (b) the hot dry season, from March to May.

Climate Types
Based on the distribution of rainfall, four climate types are recognized, which are described as
follows:

Typhoons have a great influence on the climate and weather conditions of the Philippines. A
great portion of the rainfall, humidity and cloudiness are due to the influence of typhoons. They
generally originate in the region of the Marianas and Caroline Islands of the Pacific Ocean
which have the same latitudinal location as Mindanao. Their movements follow a northwesterly
direction, sparing Mindanao from being directly hit by majorty of the typhoons that cross the
country. This makes the southern Philippines very desirable for agriculture and industrial
development.

Source:

https://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/information/climate-philippines
The 4 climates
The Climate of the Philippines is either tropical rainforest, tropical savanna or tropical monsoon,
or humid subtropical (in higher-altitude areas) characterized by relatively high temperature,
oppressive humidity and plenty of rainfall. There are two seasons in the country, the wet season
and the dry season, based upon the amount of rainfall. This is dependent as well on your
location in the country as some areas experience rain all throughout the year.

The seven warmest months of the year are from March to October. The winter monsoon brings
cooler air from November to February. May is the warmest month, and January, the coolest.

There are four recognized climate types in the Philippines, and they are based on the
distribution of rainfall. They are described as follows:

Type I. Two pronounced seasons: dry from November to April and wet during the rest of the
year.

Type II. No dry season with a pronounced rainfall from November to January.

Type III. Seasons are not very pronounced, relatively dry from November to April, and wet
during the rest of the year.

Type IV. Rainfall is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year.

There are three recognized seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from
March to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from June to November), and Taglamig (the cold
season from December to February).

The humid southwest monsoon (May-October) is known as "Habagat". The cool and dry winds
of the northeast monsoon (November April) are called "Amihan".

These seasons can seriously get mixed up by the El Niño/ La Niña effects. El Niño brings dry
weather and even droughts. La Niña stands for rainy weather and floods.

Regional climate
Manila has a tropical wet and dry/ savanna climate with a pronounced dry season in the low-
sun months, no cold season, wet season is in the high-sun months. The mean annual
temperature is 27.7°Celsius (81.9°Fahrenheit). Average monthly temperatures vary by 4°C
(7.2°F). Total annual precipitation averages 2061 mm (81.1 inches) which is equivalent to 2061
Litres/m² (50.55 Gallons/ft²).
Cebu has a tropical wet and dry/ savanna climate with a pronounced dry season in the low-sun
months, no cold season, wet season is in the high-sun months. The mean annual temperature
is 28.1°Celsius (82.6°Fahrenheit). Average monthly temperatures vary by 2.6°C (4.7°F). Total
annual precipitation averages 1260 mm (49.6 inches) which is equivalent to 1260 Litres/m²
(30.9 Gallons/ft²).
Rizal - The driest month is April, with 21 mm | 0.8 inch of rain. In July, the precipitation reaches
its peak, with an average of 327 mm | 12.9 inch.

May is the warmest month of the year. The temperature in May averages 28.5 °C | 83.2 °F. At
25.0 °C | 77.0 °F on average, January is the coldest month of the year.
There is a difference of 306 mm | 12 inch of precipitation between the driest and wettest
months. The variation in annual temperature is around 3.5 °C | 6.3 °F.

The month with the highest relative humidity is August (85.63 %). The month with the lowest
relative humidity is April (69.41 %).

The month with the highest number of rainy days is August (27.00 days). The month with the
lowest number of rainy days is February (3.07 days).

Rizal are in the middle and the summers are that easy to define.

The best time to visit are January, February, March, April, May.
The Dry Season
The Philippines dry season starts in December and runs through to about June. This period
does not encounter any monsoons, you do however have the consistent trade winds blowing
from north-east which are generally dry.

Don't let this fool you as you are in the tropics and rain can fall any day. If it rains in the dry
season, it will usually be a nice afternoon shower to cool you down and wash the dust away,
more relieving than anything else.

Within the Philippines dry season, you will encounter two temperatures. During the months of
December to February you can expect cool and dry weather. January is the coolest month of
the year, when we say coolest you can expect a temperature around 22 degrees Celsius, which
is really quite nice. Up in the Cordilleras they nearly freeze at 6 degrees Celsius.

From March to June, you can expect hot and dry weather. May is the hottest month of the year,
you can expect temperatures in the high thirties’ degree Celsius and at night, if it gets below 27
degrees Celsius, then you are lucky. Make sure you have air conditioning or at least a fan.

The Wet Season

With the high humidity and heat of the months May and June it is not surprising that something
has to give, it just cannot stay this sticky forever and you are right. The season will break,
usually in July. It is July through to November that the rains come and boy do they come. These
rains are called monsoons and are a constant wind bringing rain.

Each year during the southwestern monsoon thePhilippines climate also attracts typhoons
which batter the Pacific eastern coastline of Luzon, Samar, Leyte but nearly never Mindanao.
The typhoons come in from the Western Pacific in a north-westerly direction, they also whip up
the Philippines surf.
In the last years we counted less typhoons per year but they were more violent and made
landfall in the north and in the south. In 2009 a series of four cyclones battered northern Luzon
in one month.

Typhoon Season
Every year tropical cyclones build up over the northwestern Pacific. In the first phase they
usually move from southeast to west.

Then most of them, but not all, veer towards north and then north-east. Some of these cyclones
leave crazy tracks. In 2012 typhoon Tembin/lgme passed twice at Taiwan's southern coast.

The strongest cyclone that ever did make landfall had been Haiyan/Yolanda in November 2013.
This Super Typhoon Cat.5 devastated parts of Leyte and Samar and left a trace of destruction
over the central Visayas.

Typhoon Statistics
We analyze all tropical storms and typhoons of 100°-140° east and 0°-40° north from 1950 to
now. We only count storms with sustained wind speed (10 minutes average) of over 65 km/h.
About 50% of all storms do not make landfall and only few touch the Philippines.

The 70 years average is 24 storms and typhoons per year over the northwestern Pacific.

January to end of April can be considered storm/typhoon free months. May and June and later
in the year November and December are moderate with an average of 2 storms/typhoons
making landfall in the Philippines.

But from July to end of October there are up to 6 tropical storms or typhoons making landfall in
the Philippines.

Most typhoons hit northern Luzon with a yearly average of 3.7 storms. Then follow the Central
Visayas with 2. storms per year and the Eastern Visayas - Leyte/Samar with 1.9 storms.

The Bicol region and the National Capital Region (NCR) count 1.2 storms that make landfall.
The safest regions are Mindanao and southern Palawan. South-western Mindanao nearly never
gets hit by a strong storm.

El Niño & La Niña

El Niño and La Niña are the children of the Tropics. El Niño was originally recognized by
fisherman off the coast of South America as the appearance of unusually warm water in the
Pacific Ocean, occurring near the beginning of the year.

El Niño means The Little Boy or Christ child in Spanish. This name was used for the tendency of
the phenomenon to arrive around Christmas. La Niña means The Little Girl. La Niña is
sometimes called El Viejo, anti-El Niño, or simply "a cold event" or "a cold episode".

Both effects El Niño and La Niña are very important for the climate and the weather in the
Philippines. Very simplified one can say:

El Niño brings dry weather and even droughts

La Niña stands for rainy weather and floods

The Niño / Niña Meter aside informs at a glance and is updated automatically by NOAA.

The El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasi-periodic climate pattern that occurs
across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years.

It is characterized by variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific
Ocean warming or cooling known as Niño and Niña respectively and air surface pressure in the
tropical western Pacific, the Southern Oscillation.

Influence in the Philippines

The most affected people are the farmers. The most touched regions are central and western
Mindanao and the Cordilleras.

Mindanao is affected by both, El Niño and La Niña - droughts or floods. The Cordilleras are
affected by La Niña - much too much water.

Also, other regions can be touched, but then it's rather an exception. Such an exception
happened during last El Niño 2015/2016. In many regions there had been no rainfall during 4
months (e.g. Zamboanga and Bohol).

The dam levels as an indicator

The table shows the daily variation of the water levels in 9 dams in central and northern Luzon.
There are 2 important columns:

 The 24 hours water level deviation

 The Gate Opening

A long during negative water level deviation indicates a strong El Niño effect. It is dry.

When La Niña hits, the water level rises rapidly. The spill gates have to be opened to prevent an
overflow of the dams.

The result of such openings are often floods in the lowlands.

CAUTION:

The dam levels change with the seasons. Amihan is usually dry in the north = low levels.
Habagat brings rain and fills the dams.
Sources:

https://www.silent-gardens.com/climate.php

https://www.silent-gardens.com/elnino-lanina.php