Climate of the Philippines

The Philippines has five types of climates: tropical

rainforest, tropical monsoon, tropical savanna, humid
subtropical and oceanic (both are in higher-altitude
areas) characterized by relatively high temperature,
oppressive humidity and plenty of rainfall. There are
two seasons in the country, the wet season and the
dry season, based upon the amount of rainfall.[1] This
is also dependent on location in the country as some
areas experience rain all throughout the year (see
Climate types). Based on temperature, the warmest
months of the year are March through October; the
winter monsoon brings hotter air from November to
February. May is the warmest month, and January,
the coolest.[2]
Climate map of the Philippines based on the Modified Coronas'
Climate Classification, based on the type of rainfall distribution
during the 1951-2010 period.
Evening thunderstorms bringing rain over the Philippines is
common from March to October.

Weather in the Philippines is monitored and managed

by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Rainfall
Monsoons are large-scale sea breezes which occur
when the temperature on land is significantly warmer
or cooler than the temperature of the ocean. Most
summer monsoons or southwest monsoons (Filipino:
Habagat) have a dominant westerly component and a
strong tendency to ascend and produce copious
amounts of rain (because of the condensation of
water vapor in the rising air). The intensity and
duration, however, are not uniform from year to year.
Winter monsoons or northeast monsoons (Filipino:
Amihan), by contrast, have a dominant easterly
component and a strong tendency to diverge, subside
and cause drought.

The summer monsoon brings heavy rains to most of

the archipelago from May to October. Annual average
rainfall ranges from as much as 5,000 millimeters
(197 in) in the mountainous east coast section of the
country, to less than 1,000 millimeters (39 in) in some
of the sheltered valleys. Monsoon rains, although
hard and drenching, are not normally associated with
high winds and waves.

At least 30 percent of the annual rainfall in the

northern Philippines can be traced to tropical
cyclones, while the southern islands receiving less
than 10 percent of their annual rainfall from tropical
cyclones. The wettest known tropical cyclone to
impact the archipelago was the July 1911 cyclone,
when the total precipitation for Baguio was
distributed over the four days as: 14th – 879.8 mm
(34.6 in), 15th – 733.6 mm (28.9 in), 16th –
 424.9 mm (16.7 in), 17th – 200.4 mm (7.9 in);[3][4]
followed by extraordinary drought from October 1911
to May 1912, so that the annual amount of those two
years were hardly noticeable.

Typhoons
PAGASA's Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale[5][6]
Category Sustained winds
>220 km/h
Supertyphoon (STY)
>119 knots
118–220 km/h
Typhoon (TY)
64–119 knots
89–117 km/h
Severe tropical storm (STS)
48–63 knots
62–88 km/h
Tropical storm (TS)
34–47 knots
≤61 km/h
Tropical depression (TD)
≤33 knots

The Philippines sit across the typhoon belt, making

dangerous storms from July through October.
Climate change exacerbates the situation with
typhoons in the Philippines.[7] Typhoons are
especially hazardous for northern and eastern Luzon
and the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions, but Manila
gets devastated periodically as well. Bagyo is the
Filipino term for any tropical cyclone in the Philippine
Islands.[4] From the statistics gathered by PAGASA
from 1948 to 2004, around an average of 28 storms
and/or typhoons per year enter the PAR (Philippine
Area of Responsibility) – the designated area
assigned to PAGASA to monitor during weather
disturbances. Those that made landfall or crossed
the Philippines, the average was nine per year. In
1993, a record 19 typhoons made landfall in the
country making it the most in one year. The fewest
per year were 4 during the years 1955, 1958, 1992,
and 1997.[8]

PAGASA categorises typhoons into five types

according to wind speed. Once a tropical cyclone
enters the PAR, regardless of strength, it is given a
local name for identification purposes by the media,
government, and the general public.[9]

Public Storm Warning System (PSWS) …

PAGASA's
Tropical Cyclone Warning Signals (TCWS)[10][11]
Warning
Meaning
Signal
winds of 30–60 km/h (20-37 mph)
TCWS #1
are expected to occur within 36 hours
winds of 61–120 km/h (38–73 mph)
TCWS #2
are expected to occur within 24 hours
winds of 121–170 km/h (74–105
TCWS #3 mph)
are expected to occur within 18 hours
winds of 171–220 km/h (106–137
TCWS #4 mph)
are expected to occur within 12 hours
winds greater than 220 km/h (137
TCWS #5 mph)
are expected to occur within 12 hours

For the past ten years, the Philippines has

experienced a number of extremely damaging
tropical cyclones, particularly typhoons with more
than 20 km/h (12 mph; 11 kn; 5.6 m/s) of sustained
winds. Because of this, the Super Typhoon (STY)
category with more than 220 km/h (140 mph; 120 kn;
61 m/s) maximum sustained winds was officially
adopted by the PAGASA. However, according to
different stakeholders, the extensive and devastating
damages caused by strong typhoons such as
Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013 made the
four‑level warning system inadequate.

Strongest typhoons

Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda, 2013) …

The deadliest typhoon to impact the Philippines was

Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, in
November 2013, in which more than 6,300 lives were
lost from its storm surges and powerful winds. Over
1,000 went missing and nearly 20,000 were injured.
Winds reached 315 km/h (196 mph; 170 kn; 88 m/s)
in one–minute sustained and may have been the
strongest storm in history in terms of wind speeds as
wind speeds before the 1970s were too high to
record.

Typhoon Angela (Rosing, 1995) …

Back in 1995, where Typhoon Angela, known as

Rosing was an extremely catastrophic category 5
typhoon that made landfall in Catanduanes and made
across Manila. Winds reached 290 km/h (180 mph)
on one-minute sustain winds. Rosing took 936 lives
and the most powerful typhoon that ever hit Metro
Manila.

Typhoon Bopha (Pablo, 2012) …

On late December 3, 2012, Typhoon Bopha or known

as Pablo made landfall on Eastern Mindanao,
damage was over US$1.04 billion by winds of
280 km/h (175 mph) on one-minute sustain winds.
Typhoon Bopha was the most powerful typhoon ever
hit Mindanao, killing 1,067 people and 834 people
were missing. Most of the damage was caused by
rushing storm surges and screaming winds.

Typhoon Megi (Juan, 2010) …

Typhoon Megi (2010) was the strongest storm ever

to make landfall in the country in terms of pressure.

It reached wind speeds of 295 km/h (185 mph) on

one-minute sustained winds, killing 67 people and
costing over US$700 million in damage.

Climate types
Four kinds of tropical sunshine (°C)

Four kinds of tropical rain (mm)

There are four recognized climate types in the

Philippines, and they are based on the distribution of
rainfall (See the Philippine Climate Map at the top).[a]
They are described as follows:[1]

Two pronounced seasons: dry from

  Type I November to April and wet during the rest
of the year.
No dry season with a pronounced rainfall
  Type II
from November to January.
Seasons are not very pronounced,
  Type III relatively dry from November to April, and
wet during the rest of the year.
Rainfall is more or less evenly distributed
  Type IV
throughout the year.
 Climate: Type I

Manila

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Y
Average °C 29.8 30.6 32.3 33.7 33.8 32.1 31.0 30.5 30.6 30.9 30.5 29.7
high °F 85.6 87.1 90.1 92.7 92.8 89.8 87.8 86.9 87.1 87.6 86.9 85.5
Average °C 25.7 26.1 27.5 28.8 29.3 28.3 27.5 27.3 27.2 27.3 26.8 25.9
mean °F 78.3 79.0 81.5 83.8 84.7 82.9 81.5 81.1 81.0 81.1 80.2 78.6
Average °C 21.6 21.6 22.7 24.0 24.9 24.6 24.1 24.1 23.9 23.7 23.1 22.2
low °F 70.9 70.9 72.9 75.2 76.8 76.3 75.4 75.4 75.0 74.7 73.6 72.0
Average mm 17 8 13 26 125 273 407 441 346 193 135 63 2
rainfall in 0.7 0.3 0.5 1.0 4.9 10.7 16.0 17.4 13.6 7.6 5.3 2.5
climate-data.org[12] February 2016

Climate: Type II

Borongan, Eastern Samar

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Y
Average °C 29.1 29.3 30.1 31.1 31.8 32.1 32.0 32.2 32.3 31.5 30.5 29.7
high °F 84.4 84.7 86.2 88.0 89.2 89.8 89.6 90.0 90.1 88.7 86.9 85.5
Average °C 25.8 25.8 26.4 27.1 27.7 27.9 27.8 27.9 28.0 27.4 26.7 26.3
mean °F 78.4 78.4 79.5 80.8 81.9 82.2 82.0 82.2 82.4 81.3 80.1 79.3
Average °C 22.5 22.4 22.7 23.2 23.7 23.7 23.6 23.7 23.7 23.3 23.0 22.9
low °F 72.5 72.3 72.9 73.8 74.7 74.7 74.5 74.7 74.7 73.9 73.4 73.2
Average mm 565 394 308 262 315 221 218 201 194 290 508 633 4
rainfall in 22.2 15.5 12.1 10.3 12.4 8.7 8.6 7.9 7.6 11.4 20.0 24.9
climate-data.org[13] February 2016

Climate: Type III

Cebu City

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Y
Average °C 30.2 30.4 31.4 32.5 33.0 32.3 31.9 31.9 31.7 31.5 31.3 30.7
high °F 86.4 86.7 88.5 90.5 91.4 90.1 89.4 89.4 89.1 88.7 88.3 87.3
Average °C 26.3 26.5 27.1 28.1 28.6 28.2 27.9 27.9 27.7 27.5 27.4 26.9
mean °F 79.3 79.7 80.8 82.6 83.5 82.8 82.2 82.2 81.9 81.5 81.3 80.4
Average °C 22.5 22.6 22.8 23.7 24.3 24.1 23.9 24.0 23.7 23.6 23.5 23.1
low °F 72.5 72.7 73.0 74.7 75.7 75.4 75.0 75.2 74.7 74.5 74.3 73.6
Average mm 103 79 59 65 115 176 192 164 174 193 166 121 1
rainfall in 4.1 3.1 2.3 2.6 4.5 6.9 7.6 6.5 6.9 7.6 6.5 4.8
climate-data.org[14] February 2016

Climate: Type IV

General Santos

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Y
Average °C 32.2 32.5 33.1 33.4 32.3 31.4 31.0 31.1 31.5 31.9 31.2 32.1
high °F 90.0 90.5 91.6 92.1 90.1 88.5 87.8 88.0 88.7 89.4 88.2 89.8
Average °C 26.8 27.0 27.4 27.9 27.5 26.9 26.5 26.5 26.8 27.1 27.1 26.9
mean °F 80.2 80.6 81.3 82.2 81.5 80.4 79.7 79.7 80.2 80.8 80.8 80.4
Average °C 21.4 21.5 21.7 22.4 22.7 22.4 22.0 22.0 22.2 22.3 22.0 21.8
low °F 70.5 70.7 71.1 72.3 72.9 72.3 71.6 71.6 72.0 72.1 71.6 71.2
Average mm 68 69 47 57 108 118 110 93 84 113 98 87 1
rainfall in 2.7 2.7 1.9 2.2 4.3 4.6 4.3 3.7 3.3 4.4 3.9 3.4
climate-data.org[15] February 2016

Temperature
The average year-round temperature measured from
all the weather stations in the Philippines, except
Baguio, is 26.6 °C (79.9 °F). Cooler days are usually
felt in the month of January with temperature
averaging at 25.5 °C (77.9 °F) and the warmest days,
in the month of May with a mean of 28.3 °C
(82.9 °F).[1] Elevation factors significantly in the
variation of temperature in the Philippines. In Baguio,
with an elevation of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea
level, the mean average is 18.3 °C (64.9 °F) or cooler
by about 4.3 °C (8 °F). In 1915, a one-year study was
conducted by William H. Brown of the Philippine
Journal of Science on top of Mount Banahaw at
2,100 m (6,900 ft) elevation. The mean temperature
measured was 18.6 °C (65.5 °F), a difference of 10 °C
(18 °F) from the lowland mean temperature.[16]

Humidity
Relative humidity is high in the Philippines. A high
amount of moisture or vapor in the air makes hot
temperatures feel hotter. This quantity of moisture is
due to different factors – the extraordinary
evaporation from the seas that surrounds the country
on all sides, to the different prevailing winds in the
different seasons of the year, and finally, to the
abundant rains so common in a tropical country. The
first may be considered as general causes of the
great humidity, which is generally observed in all the
islands throughout the year. The last two may
influence the different degree of humidity for the
different months of the year and for the different
regions of the archipelago.[17]
Seasons
The climate of the country is divided into two main
seasons:

1. the rainy season, from June to the early part of

October;
2. the dry season, from the later part of October to
May. The dry season may be subdivided further
into (a) the cool dry season, from the later part
of October to February; and (b) the hot dry
season, from March to May.[1] The months of
April and May, the hot and dry months when
schools are on their long break between
academic years, is referred to as summer while
in most of the northern hemisphere those
months are part of spring.
Months November–February March–May June–August September–October

Rainfall Dry Wet

Temperature Cool Hot

Season Cool Dry Hot Dry Rainy