OUR world has changed so drastically these last few months in ways we have not seen before, but it is good to know that some things have remained the same – like the summer weather which is now upon us.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said early this week that damp and humid winds from the Pacific – the easterlies – have now begun to flow into our islands. They will bring isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms in the evening.
One or two tropical storms may hit or pass near the country during this period. There will be “near normal rainfall” in most parts of Luzon and Mindanao, with “below normal” rainfall” in the Visayas.
This is the summer we have always had in the Philippines, the summer we used to spend in outings in beaches and other places in the countryside. This is the summer that used to end the school year, the summer that students enjoyed to the fullest before the start of the new school year in June. But all this, of course, was before COVID-19 hit us and the rest of the world and upset all our social, economic, even religious activities on a worldwide scale.
The people of Metro Manila will have to endure the heat of summer in their homes as the lockdown – the enhanced community quarantine – has been decreed for another two weeks until May 16.
The heat of summer will continue until the rainy season begins towards the end of May or the beginning of June. It is about this time that the hot winds from the Pacific in the east give way to the moist winds from the southwest – the “habagat.” The rains they bring will be most welcome; we just hope they will not cause bad floods as in some years in the past.
The rains are expected to continue until September. That is when the southwest “habagat” winds stop blowing and are replaced by the “amihan” winds from the cold northeast. This is the amihan we associate with the pleasant weather of the Christmas season in December.
At this time when there is so much disruption and difficulty in our daily lives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can only hope and pray that the world’s scientists will soon come up with a cure or a vaccine that will stop the continuing spread of this disease. The global death toll soared past the 200,000 milestone last Sunday and nearly three million are now ill in hospitals, unsure if they will recover as there is yet no established cure.
Through all this fear and uncertainty, nature’s seasons come and go. A er the heat of summer which is now upon us, we will soon have the blessed rains of June and very much later, the cool winds of December. We continue to hope that similarly, the pain and sorrow of the ongoing pandemic will be followed by the joy of recovery and new life for the whole world.
