PAGASA: Hot weather to continue until mid-May

The scorching heat prevailing over the Philippines may continue until the middle of May, state weather bureau PAGASA said Monday.

“Inaasahan na for more than two weeks pa natin mararanasan ‘yung epekto ng Easterlies at high pressure area sa North Pacific Ocean,” said weather specialist Benison Estareja said.

(We expect that the hot and humid weather will continue for the next two weeks due to the Easterlies and the high-pressure area over the North Pacific Ocean.)

No tropical cyclone is expected to enter or form inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) this week, he added.

In its 24-hour public forecast, PAGASA said cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms may be experienced over Davao Region, Surigao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi due to the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

Metro Manila and the rest of the country, meanwhile, may have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms due to the easterlies and the localized thunderstorms.

Forecast winds in the country’s seaboards will be light to moderate while the coastal water conditions will be slight to moderate.

The highest temperature reached 37.4°C at 1:50 p.m.

The sun will set at 6:13 p.m.—Sundy Locus/RF, GMA Integrated News