6/11/2020 PAGASA

Weather Terminologies
Cloud Description
SKY CONDITION DEFINITION / DESCRIPTION

Clear or Sunny Skies State of the sky when it is cloudless, totally clear or with a few small light
clouds visible.
Has a total cloud cover of less than one okta.

Partly Cloudy State of the sky is within 2-5 oktas total cloud cover or has between 30% to
70% cover of the celestial dome.

Partly Cloudy to at Mostly partly cloudy but there are times when more than 70% of the celestial
Times Cloudy dome is covered with clouds.

Mostly or Mainly The sky is mostly covered with clouds but with possible brief periods of
Cloudy sunshine.
The total cloud cover is between 6 to 8 oktas.

Cloudy The sky is covered with clouds between 6 to 8 oktas or has more than 70%
cloud cover.
Predominantly more clouds than clear sky.
For a longer period during the day, the sun is obscured by clouds.

Overcast The sky is totally or completely covered with thick and opaque clouds, 8 oktas
or around 100% cloud cover.

Wind Description (Based from the Beaufort Wind Scale and the
Saffir-Simpson Scale)
WIND
DESCRIPTION UNITS in KPH UNITS in KNOTS DESCRIPTION AS OBSERVED

Light Winds 19 or less 10 or less Wind felt on face.

Ordinary wind vanes moved by wind.
Leaves rustle.

Moderate Winds 20-29 11-16 Wind raises dust and loose paper.
Small branches are moved.

Moderate to Moderate winds mostly persist but there are

Occasionally instances during the forecast period that it
Strong reaches strong wind force.

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WIND
DESCRIPTION UNITS in KPH UNITS in KNOTS DESCRIPTION AS OBSERVED

Fresh Winds* 30-39 17-21 Small trees in leaf begin to sway.

Crested wavelets appear on inland waters.

Strong Winds 40-50 22-27 Large branches in motion.

Whistling heard in telephone wires.
Umbrellas used with difficulty.

Gale: Whole trees in motion.

Inconvenience felt when walking against
1 Near Gale* 51-62 28-33 wind.
Twigs break off road.
2 Gale 63-75 34-40 Cars veer on road.
Larger branches break off.
3 Strong Gale* 76-87 41-47 Slight structural damade occurs-roofing
dislodged.

Stormy: Trees uprooted.

Considerable structural damage.
1 Storm 88-102 48-55 Widespread damage.

2 Violent 103-117 53-63

Storm*
118 or more 64 or more
3 Typhoon*

*Terms that are not normally used by meteorological centers in forecasts formulation and communication
Gust - any sudden brief increase of wind speed usually less than 20 seconds followed by a lull or slackening in wind
speed

Precipitation (Rain & Rainshowers) Description

I. Rains
Overcast sky with continuous or steady precipitation that may last several hours.
Has a water droplets of 0.5 mm or greater in size but if widely scattered the drops may be smaller.
Associated with meso-scale (synoptic) system or macro-scale (large scale) system like TC's, Easterly Waves,
Monsoons, Fronts and ITCZ.

RAIN
CLASSIFICATION DEFINITION / DESCRIPTION

Very Light Rains Scattered drops that do not completely wet an exposed surface regardless of
duration.

Light Rains The rate of fall is from trace to 2.5 mm per hour.
Individual drops easily identified and puddles(small muddy pools) form slowly.
Small streams may flow in gutters.

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RAIN
CLASSIFICATION DEFINITION / DESCRIPTION

Moderate Rains The rate of fall is between 2.5 mm to 7.5 mm per hour.
Puddles rapidly forming and down pipes flowing freely.

Heavy Rains The rate of fall is greater than 7.5 mm per hour.
The sky is overcast, there is a continuous precipitation.
Falls in sheets, misty spray over hard surfaces.
May cause roaring noise on roofs.

Monsoon Rains Other Descriptions:

Heavy and continuous precipitation attributed to either the Southwest or
Northeast Monsoon.

Occasional Rains Not frequent but is recurrent precipitation.

Widespread Rains Precipitation occuring extensively throughout an area.

Frequent Rains Precipitation occuring regularly and often throughout the time duration.

Intermittent Rains Precipitation which ceases at times and re-occur again.

II. Rainshowers
Precipitation of short duration but usually of greater intensity from convective clouds(primarily cumulus or
cumulonimbus)
Characterized by sudden start and sudden end of precipitation, rapid change in intensity.

RAINSHOWERS DEFINITION / DESCRIPTION

Scattered The rain-bearing clouds is distributed spatially resulting to rainshowers occuring to

Rainshowers the bigger part of the forecasted area.

Isolated The rain-bearing clouds is small and isolated resulting to rainshowers occuring only
Rainshowers to a small part of the forecasted area.

Occasional There is a large amount of convective clouds and precipitation occur in most parts of
Rainshowers the forecasted area occasionally, and varying in rainfall amount.

Squally Showers accompanied by brief but sudden strong or gale force winds.
Rainshowers

Sea Condition as affected by Wind Force (Based from the

Beaufort Wind Scale)
UNITS UNITS WAVE
WIND in in HT.
FORCE (MPS) (KTS) (METER) SEA CONDITION

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UNITS UNITS WAVE

WIND in in HT.
FORCE (MPS) (KTS) (METER) SEA CONDITION

Calm 0-1.5 0-3.0 0.1 Ripples with the appearance of scales are formed but
without foam crests.

Smooth 1.5-4.0 3.0-8.0 0.1-0.5 Small wavelets, still short but more pronounced.
Crest have glassy appearance and do not break.

Slight 4.0-8.0 8.0-16.0 0.5-1.25 Small waves, becoming longer.

Fairly frequent white horses.

Moderate 8.0-11.0 16.0- 1.25-2.5 Moderate waves taking a more pronounced long
22.0 form.
Many white horses are formed-a change of some
spray.

Rough 11.0- 22.0- 2.5-4.0 Large waves begin to form.

16.0 32.0 Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves
begin to be blown in streaks along the direction of
wind.

Very Rough 16.0- 32.0- 4.0-6.0 Moderately high waves of greater length.
20.0 40.0 Edges of crest begin to break into spindrift.
Foam is blown in well-mark streaks along the
direction of the wind.

High 20.0- 40.0- 6.0-9.0 High to very high waves with long overhanging
26.0 52.0 crests.
The surface of the sea takes on white appearance.
The thumbling of the sea becomes heavy with
visibility affected.

Very High 26.0- 52.0- 9.0-14.0 Exeptionally high waves.

34.0 68.0 Small and medium size ships occasionally lost from
view behind waves.
The sea is completely covered with long white
patches of foam.
The edges of wave crest are blown into froth.

Phenomenal >34.0 >68.0 >14.0 The air is completely filled with foam and spray.
Sea completely white with driving spray.
Visibility very seriously affected.

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