Unusual? PAGASA says 4 storms near PH already happened before

State weather bureau PAGASA on Monday dismissed the claim that the four tropical cyclones being near the Philippines this November was an “unusual” situation.

At a press briefing, PAGASA weather division chief Juanito Galang said the same scenario was experienced by the country in 2020, and both of the occurrences could be attributed to the La Niña phenomenon.

“The four tropical cyclones in our Philippine Area of Responsibility is due to the La Niña-like condition,” Galang said.

“It also happened last four years, 2020. Same set of names…That is also La Niña. So I think as you can call it unusual, but it already happened before,” he added.

It was the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) which earlier said that the four storms that churned simultaneously in the Western Pacific Ocean in November, battering most parts of the Philippines, is an “unusual” occurrence.

NASA shared a satellite image taken last November 11 where storms Yinxing (Marce), Toraji (Nika), Usagi (Ofel), and Man-Yi (Pepito) were either approaching the Philippines or had already passed over the islands at that time. 

Citing a report by the Japan Meteorological Agency, NASA said “it was the first time since records began in 1951 that so many storms co-existed in the Pacific basin in November.”

Based on PAGASA’s annual report on Philippine tropical cyclones in 2020, then Severe Tropical Storm Marce developed on September 19, 2020, followed by Tropical Storm Nika on October 11; Tropical Depression Ofel on October 13; and Typhoon Pepito on October 18.

Three other tropical cyclones entered the Philippines Area of Responsibility in October 2020 namely: Typhoon Quinta, Super Typhoon Rolly, and Severe Tropical Storm Siony. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News