Is the dry season late this year?

While temperatures have started to soar in most parts of the country, Bohol continued to experience intermittent rainfall and cloudy skies in the past week.

That may be the case, but according to the state weather bureau, what Filipinos call “summer” is officially here.

Hotter and humid days are ahead as the tail-end of a cold front which has brought rains in the region makes its way further down south to Mindanao, said PAGASA senior weather forecaster Rene Paciente.

The cold front also caused cool winds at the start of April, which is unofficially deemed the start of “summer” in the country. Last year, PAGASA declared the start of the dry season in mid-March.

On Wednesday, the state agency finally declared the end of the northeast monsoon (hanging amihan), signaling the official start of summer.

With the onset of the dry season, temperatures may even get extremely high in the following weeks, said Paciente.

This has prompted PAGASA to warn the public of possible conditions and diseases such as heat stroke and skin disorders due to extremely high temperatures.

The Philippines only has two seasons—the wet and dry periods, and PAGASA does not use “summer” to refer to the latter.

According to PAGASA, “summer” is only used in mid-latitude countries such as the United States which has four seasons. (Allen Doydora)