Blame ‘habagat,’ not ‘Gener’

For its erratic bursts of rain and wind and generally fickle nature, the “bipolar” weather disturbance known as Typhoon “Gener” has become the butt of online jokes.

Gener—which started out as a low pressure area (LPA) in the Pacific, turned into a tropical depression, then a tropical storm, a typhoon and back to a tropical storm—left the Philippines for good on Friday, but not before striking the fancy and humor of netizens.

For a whole week, the wet and windy storm brought death and destruction across Metro Manila and outlying provinces, changing directions as it plodded northward, and at one point, spawning fierce storm surges that slammed into the seawall in Manila Bay and flooded Roxas Boulevard on Manila.

It’s southwest monsoon

The storm had enhanced the southwest monsoon, locally known as “hanging habagat,” according to the state weather bureau. One minute, rain and wind came in fits and spurts; the next minute, it rained cats and dogs.

Singer-songwriter Jim Paredes summed up the online sentiment on his Twitter account (@jimparedes): “From what Twitter peeps say, Gener is bipolar, a girl (fickle), needs Imodium or Diatabs, has an FB (Facebook) status of ‘It’s complicated.’”

Another Twitter account with an obscene name joked: “Ikaw ba si Gener? Ang hangin mo kasi eh! (Are you Gener? Because you’re so windy.)”

Explaining the mercurial weather, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the blame should fall on the southwest monsoon, which Gener had enhanced during its stay.

Erratic, unpredictable

“That’s characteristic of the southwest monsoon. It’s really erratic and unpredictable,” Pagasa Administrator Nathaniel Servando told the Inquirer. He said the southwest monsoon would continue prevailing until September.

“The nature of the southwest monsoon is it brings intermittent rains. It can last five minutes, or there will be continuous rain for 30 minutes, and there are breaks in between,” Pagasa forecaster Chris Perez said.

Article from Inquirer

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The First Typhoon of the Wet Season in the Philippines

As the summer season ended, the wet seasons of the Philippines had officially begun, particularly now that a typhoon is steadily battering Luzon and Visayas with heavy rains. “Butchoy”, with international name Guchol, is said to have intensified into a typhoon as it moved in a north-northwest direction.

Despite not making any landfall, Tropical Storm “Butchoy” moves up stronger and expected to bring more rains to Luzon and Eastern Visayas, particularly in the Sarangani and Samar Provinces which is currently experiencing severe flooding.

First Typhoon of the Wet Season Butchoy was first seen 470 kilometers east northeast of Borongan, Eastern Samar, with maximum winds of 120 kilometers per hour near the center, and gustiness of up to 150 kph, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said in its latest advisory.

According to latest Philippines Weather news, Butchoy is forecast to be 590 kilometers east southeast of Casiguran, Aurora by Sunday morning. Typhoon Butchoy continued to move north-northwest 15 kilometers per hour, with estimated rainfall of 15-25-mm per hour (heavy) within the 500-km diameter of the typhoon, it also said.

It is expected to enhance the southwest monsoon that will bring rains over Luzon and Visayas especially over the western section which may trigger flashfloods and landslides, Pagasa said.

Rescued Teachers in Samar According to latest Weather Philippines news, eight public school teachers were rescued by the Philippine Coast Guard Friday night after the engine of their boat conked out under heavy rain in rough seas churned up by Tropical Storm Butchoy.

Meanwhile, about 60 passengers bound for Luzon have been stranded at the port in Allen town, Northern Samar, since Friday afternoon after vessels were barred from sailing because of the storm, which had intensified into a typhoon on Saturday.

Bicol Bracing for Flooding and Landslides Disaster agencies went on alert to better deal with the possibility of floods and landslides as Typhoon Butchoy came closer to the Bicol region although the weather bureau did not expect it to make landfall anywhere in the Philippines.

Butchoy, the second storm to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility this year, has enhanced the southwest monsoon which in turn has been dumping heavy rain on many parts of the Philippine the past week as the weather system intensified from a low pressure area into a typhoon.

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) was placed under “Code Blue” alert or preparedness status, and relief teams were assembled for quick deployment in case people living in areas prone to flooding, lahar flows or landslides need to be evacuated, said Bernardo Alejandro, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense and chairman of the regional disaster council

Project Noah

Noah, a program to install rain gauges and flood monitoring and warning systems in the country’s major river systems, had been recently installed as one of the government’s first step in the coming season. A joint effort by the Philippine government and the local sector, Noah is said to be a vital tool in the coming rainy season.

Project Noah In a speech read for him at the 1st Philippine International River Summit on Thursday, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, said the PLDT Group’s Smart Communications and Sun Cellular will help the government’s P1.7-billion project to make communities resilient to typhoons.

According to latest Philippines Weather news, government officials and private sector participants told the summit that the Philippines, which suffer average 20 storms a year, badly needed to manage river systems and install a better alert system for floods to prevent the loss of lives and property.

As part of its assistance, the PLDT Group has allowed the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to install automatic rain gauges (ARGs) in 600 cell sites of Smart and Sun all over the country over two years, said Pangilinan. PLDT installed 63 rain gauges for the country’s weather bureau last year.
Like the biblical patriarch for which it was named, Project Noah will warn communities of impending flooding in their communities in the event of continuous rains.

“Project Noah combined with other new technologies like the Doppler radar, will finally bring the country’s disaster preparedness systems into the 21st century. Even before floods strike, we can know to an unprecedented level of detail how such calamities will impact on our cities and towns,” Pangilinan said in the speech read for him by Michael Toledo, Philex Mining Corp. vice president for corporate affairs.

A Rainy Start of the School Year According to latest Technology Philippines news, while the wet season hasn’t officially kicked in yet, monsoon rains are expected to affect the opening of classes next week.

Southern Luzon, the Visayas and western and northeastern Mindanao would start experiencing isolated to widespread rain showers this weekend, said forecaster Nikos Peñaranda of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

“We should watch out for these possible monsoon rains. Next week will be critical. It’s likely that we’ll be experiencing monsoon rains as well by next week because of the enhancement of the southwest monsoon,’’ Peñaranda said in an interview.

Rainy school opening seen

While the wet season hasn’t officially kicked in yet, monsoon rains are expected to affect the opening of classes next week.
Monsoon rains induced by an active low pressure area (LPA) east off Samar would become more frequent over southern Luzon, including Metro Manila and the Visayas next week, weather forecasters said Thursday.
Southern Luzon, the Visayas and western and northeastern Mindanao would start experiencing isolated to widespread rain showers this weekend, said forecaster Nikos Peñaranda of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
“We should watch out for these possible monsoon rains. Next week will be critical. It’s likely that we’ll be experiencing monsoon rains as well by next week because of the enhancement of the southwest monsoon,’’ Peñaranda said in an interview.
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the LPA was over the Philippine Sea 330 kilometers east of Borongan, Eastern Samar.
While far from the archipelago, the LPA would induce the southwest monsoon, or winds blowing southwest, to bring rain over some sections as early as Friday, Peñaranda said.
The LPA would likely develop into a tropical depression Saturday, and when it does, the monsoon rain would intensify, he said. Once a tropical depression, it will be called “Ambo.’’

Credits : Philippines Weather, Weather Philippines