Story & photos by Stephanie Tumampos
The simplest indicator of rain is the presence of clouds. For 42 years, Felion Corona is no stranger to looking up the sky every time he needs to check on the day’s weather.
As chief meteorological officer of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in Catarman, Samar, Corona had four decades of experience to easily identify clouds.
His talk, “The Importance of Clouds in Meteorological Operations”, was discussed during the scientific forum on clouds at Pagasa’s 152nd National Meteorological Day held recently in its central office in Quezon City. Its theme, “Understanding Clouds”, is also the theme of the celebration of the World Meteorological Organization this year.
Cumulus, nimbus, cirrus—some of the clouds we have up there—are monitored every three hours, Corona said.
“We check them every three hours by looking outside,” Corona said Filipino in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “At 8 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 8 p.m., 11 p.m., 2 a.m., 5 a.m. and back at 8 in the morning, we send data to the main station here in Manila for meteorologists to consolidate and send these data to Singapore and Tokyo.”
In cases of extreme weather, such as a storm, meteorologists are required to check clouds hourly.
Other countries also send their data respectively to Tokyo and Singapore. The Philippines and the rest of the world follow the coordinated universal time in simultaneously sending data.
Importance of clouds
“It is in the clouds that we see how our weather is performing,” Corona told the BusinessMirror.
A weather forecaster or a meteorologist will be alarmed if a group of clouds is starting to form in the sky. “If clouds are starting to cram, we start to look at them and focus on their activity.”
Corona said clouds are one of the best indicators to determine if a storm is coming.
A storm starts when atmospheric pressure drops, which happens, he said, “when the weight of the wind is very light”.
When this happens, clouds start to accumulate, and “when the wind becomes lighter and lighter, it is there that a circulation of the wind forms”. This is how a meteorologist predicts the further formation and direction of the storm.
When clouds don’t form in an area, the day is easily judged as good weather.
Tropical Philippines
Like every country in the world, the Philippines has a story to tell when it comes to clouds, and how its weather and climate are uniquely different from other places.
Being in the tropics, he or she can easily observe that anywhere he or she goes on any island in the country, always or oftentimes he or she sees thick clouds forming in our sky. Hot or not, the clouds tower and cover the blue sky with huge masses of water and dust. Eventually, it condenses and water droplets start to fall from it, watering the Earth.
“The biggest factor on why clouds form and move faster in the Philippines is its being an archipelago,” Corona said. “Our country, being an archipelago, is surrounded by a large mass of water. Clouds are formed when the sun heats up the surface and the water. “Water evaporates and when there’s more evaporation, there are more clouds.”
Moreover, clouds are not just present on top of the land area, it is also on top of the water bodies. Clouds that are on top of the water bodies are transported through the wind, in which clouds are pushed to over the land area.
“We have two systems of wind direction that happen in our country—the northwest monsoon [hanging amihan] and the southeast monsoon [hanging habagat],” Corona explained. These two are responsible for the transport of clouds that are formed from afar.
Another factor is that the Philippines is near the equator. “Here in the tropics, our temperature is hotter than in other countries.” By this, Corona meant that faster evaporation occurs.
Weather vs climate
A lot of of people are always confused on the difference between the two terms—weather and climate—in meteorology.
According to Corona, “Weather is the condition of the atmosphere for a short period of time,” which means for a day. “What is happening in the atmosphere today, that [involves] the weather.”
Climate, on the other hand, “is the condition of the atmosphere for a long period of time,” which, he explained, involves a continuous data record of at least 30 years, such as El Niño and La Niña.
“In the Philippines we have four types of climate,” Corona said. Type 1 is the two pronounced season, which is the dry, from November to April; and the wet, during the rest of the year.
The second type is a no dry season, with a pronounced rainfall from November to January, while the third type is relatively dry, from the months November to April, and wet during the rest of the year, wherein the seasons are not very pronounced.
The fourth type is more rainfall or less evenly distributed throughout the year.
Image credits: Stephanie Tumampos