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La Niña is over for the Philippines, according to the Philippine
Atmospheric Geophysicial and Astronomical Services Administration,
which issued Friday its tenth and final bulletin on the weather
phenomenon.
The weather bureau’s bulletin said the
La Niña episode, which started September 2007, has ended as current
sea surface temperatures observed in the central and equatorial
Pacific are now close to their average or normal values.
“Near neutral conditions are expected to
continue in the coming months,” it said.
The bulletin further said that two to
three typhoons are expected to enter the Philippine area of
responsibility this July.
“Generally, rainfall conditions in most parts
of the country would likely be near normal while below normal
rainfall is expected in some areas of central and southern part of
Luzon,” the bulletin said.
The weather bureau explained that the La
Niña was the cause of the above normal rainfall in the Philippines.
The Central Equatorial Pacific, as monitored by
the weather bureau’s foreign counterparts, is at least negative
0.5 degrees Celsius for five consecutive months.
For monitoring purposes, the Central Equatorial
Pacific is further divided into various parts with the Philippines
falling under Area 3.4.
Normal rainfall in the Philippines averages 900
to 4,000 millimeters yearly with these amounts tracked by the
agency’s 58 synoptic stations all over the country.
-- Ike Suarez
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