PAGASA: Expect short, wet summer

Filipinos can expect a short and wet summer this year due to the heavy rains to be brought by the La Niña weather phenomenon, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Monday. PAGASA officer-in-charge Graciano Yumul Jr. said Monday the "dry" part of summer is likely to last between April and the first half of May only. "Considering na moderate ang La Niña ngayon, inaasahan natin ang ating summer ay maikli. Ang buong Marso masyadong maulan, later part ng summer, mga May, nakikita natin nag-uulan (With moderate La Niña, we can expect summer to be short. March is likely to be rainy while the later part of summer, in May, we can expect rains again)," Yumul said in an interview on dwIZ radio. After the summer, he said the public may have to brace for cyclones that he said may be "malakas (intense)." La Niña is a weather phenomenon characterized by heavy rains and lower temperatures. PAGASA earlier said it expects 20 to 22 cyclones to hit the country this year. "Inaasahan natin [na] maikli ang summer natin at in general ay basa at ang susunod ay mga bagyo na inaasahan natin mas marami sa last year at medyo mas malakas (We can expect a short summer followed by cyclones that are very powerful)," he said. Yumul appealed anew to the public to help protect PAGASA’s weather detection and monitoring equipment, following the recent theft of such items in Pangasinan. He made the appeal even as he said PAGASA hopes to complete the installation of seven Doppler radars nationwide this year. "Pag sinasalbahe ang weather system natin pinapatay nila kababayan natin, nawawalan tayo ng capability (When unscrupulous people steal our weather system gadgets, they may not realize they can kill other people because such thefts diminish our capability)," he said. — RSJ, GMANews.TV