FILIPINOS can expect nippy days ahead, especially in mid-December when the weather will get really chilly, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Saturday.

Pag-asa said that the public can look forward to frosty mornings as Christmas draws near because the cold wind coming from China and Mongolia will also envelop the country in December.

Pagasa weather forecaster Ge-ner Quitlong said that the coldest days are to be expected between mid-December and until February 2013.

The coldest temperatures recorded so far this week had been at 20 degrees Celsius in Metro Manila, and 15 degrees in Baguio City. But that is just a preview of the cold temperatures, Quitlong said.

The lowest temperature recorded so far by the weather bureau was 6.3 degrees Celsius in Baguio on January 18, 1961. Metro Manila had its coldest days on February 4, 1987 and December 30, 1988 at 15.1 degrees Celsius.