Fewer storms hitting PH, but more intense and dangerous – Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines –The Philippines has witnessed fewer but more intense storms in recent years, the country’s weather agency said Saturday.

Satellite photo courtesy of Pagasa

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) attributes the phenomenon to global warming and says the country can expect this trend to continue in the coming years.

“Based on historical data, decreasing trend ‘yung number ng tropical cyclones ditto sa atin, but (may) increasing trend ng mga bilang ng mga bagyo na magiging mas intense (Based on historical data, there is a decreasing trend in the frequency of tropical cyclones ) cyclones here, but there is an increasing trend in the number of typhoons that will be more intense),’ said Pagasa climate monitoring and forecasting head Dr. Ana Liza Solis during a Door the Presidential Communications Office organized media workshop on disaster communications.

The Philippines averaged at least 19 to 20 tropical cyclones annually over the past decade, Solis said.

Now that is rarely the case.

“Ibig sabihin, historically, ay marami tayong typhoon in the super typhoon category. In a continuing ‘yung trend na posibleng mas nagiging intense’ yung typhoon in the super typhoon category natin (that means historically we have had many typhoons and super typhoon categories. And The trend that our categories of typhoons and super typhoons may become more intense is on the rise,” she added.

With this event likely to continue amid the increasing severity of climate change, Solis said the way forward would be to prepare and establish a long-term adaptation strategy.

“We must adapt to it in maging resilient kasi darating at darating iyon. We have to deal with it (we have to adapt to it and be resilient because it will come, we have to deal with it),” she told the Philippine News Agency in a separate interview.

The Marcos administration has formulated ways to address the long-term impacts of climate-related disasters, including through major government projects such as flood control structures, construction of irrigation systems, and rehabilitation initiatives for major river basins and dams.

The country suffered dozens of casualties and billions of pesos in property damage when six tropical cyclones battered several provinces in a span of two months, the latest being super typhoon Pepito, which hit Luzon the hardest.