Puerto Princesa City recorded its highest rainfall in history—341.7 millimeters of rainfall—as of 5 a.m. on February 10.
Sonny Pajarilla of PAGASA’s Puerto Princesa Station announced this on social media, pointing out that the quantity of rainfall dropped on Palawan overshadowed all prior severe records set since the station’s establishment in 1948.
Puerto Princesa City had 150 millimeters of rain on February 9 in only three hours, which Pajarilla characterized as “torrential rain” in an interview he gave on Sunday to Palawan News.
Because a large amount of rain fell in a short period, the reaction time was short, which led to flooding in some barangays in the city.
Pajarilla stressed that the average amount of rain that falls in Puerto Princesa in February is only 30.7 millimeters. The most significant amount of rainfall ever recorded in February was 140.8 mm on February 16, 2012.
The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded in history was 269.3 mm on December 29, 1975.
“The previous extreme record of rainfall amount that has been sitting comfortably for about 50 years has been dethroned today,” Pajarilla said, linking the extreme weather event to global warming.
He urged authorities and urban planners to adapt to the “new normal” in weather and climate, emphasizing the need for better infrastructure planning to mitigate the impacts of such extreme events.
Expect the unexpected
Pajarilla on Sunday stated that people should anticipate the unforeseen. This means that more peculiar rainfalls or weather patterns are likely to occur as circumstances have evolved and advancements are taking place.
“Maliban sa maraming pag-ulan, of course, marami na ring development compared sa dati. Kaya maraming magsasabi ngayon talaga na, ‘Grabe ito palang ang pinakamataas na baha na naranasan ko’,” he said.
According to him, Sunday’s rainfall event happened because the location was favorable for heavy rain. A low-pressure area southwest of Palawan (outside of the Philippine area of responsibility) triggered the convergence of two opposing wind systems—the northeast monsoon (amihan) and the easterly winds (habagat).
He added that the easterly winds were strong and carried a lot of moisture, further intensified by the existing La Niña conditions.
“Yong mga pressure system na nabubuo dito sa karagatan malapit sa atin, ito yong by-product na nyan. Ito yong nagiging bunga,” Pajarilla said.
Climate Change
Rainfall is a result of cloud formation, Pajarilla said. Rainfall is likely to increase as the number of clouds increases. Clouds develop from moisture in the air. When the air contains a large quantity of water vapor, clouds develop.
He said weather patterns are heavily influenced by atmospheric processes.
Pajarilla added that global warming, which refers to the long-term rise in the Earth’s average surface temperature caused by human activities that release greenhouse gases (GHGs), contributes to the unusual weather patterns currently being observed.
“Pupunta na tayo sa global warming. Mas mainit mas mataas ang evaporation, mas mataas yong tubig na pupunta sa ating hangin. Bunga na ba ito ng climate change? Actually, directly proportional yan. We’ve been saying all the time na ang mga extreme events ay mas lalong dadami, mas magiging frequent,” he elaborated.
“Ang mga pag-ulan ay mas magiging marami pagka may ganito because marami ang supply ng moisture sa ating atmosphere, because of mataas na sea surface temperature, because also of mataas na air temperature mismo,” Pajarilla added.
