IN the video taken by netizen John Pablo on Monday afternoon, the hailstorm is clearly visible at Tolentino St. in San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City.
The uploader of the video mentioned that after the hailstones dropped, strong winds and rain followed.
Residents in Carmen, North Cotabato also recently experienced hailstorm.
Also, in some other parts of the country:
Ana Liza Solis, the Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section Chief of PAGASA explained, even though La Niña has not yet entered the country, it is becoming common to have such events especially in local thunderstorm activities.
A hailstorm forms when a thunderstorm is severe.
“When we experience rain, there’s a possibility of small hailstorms occurring during our rainy season. Due to the extreme heat of our weather, severe thunderstorm clouds are possible to form,” according to Ana Liza Solis, Climate Monitoring & Prediction Section Chief, PAGASA.
When easterlies commonly bring hot and wet air, and with enough moisture, it could lead to. the formation of clouds.
Whenever there are formations of large thunderstorms, they usually reach the troposphere where they cool down and form ice.
Once these ice become heavy, they fall as hail.
“And because it’s so severe and large, if for example, it falls onto our land and the base of that cloud is low, it’s possible for it to fall as hail or small hailstones. They don’t immediately melt as they descend to the ground,” Solis added.
The rains experienced in some parts of the country, according to PAGASA, indicate that possible rainy season about to occur or will begin.
In PAGASA’s announcement, La Niña is expected to begin in the third part of the year or on July.
DILG in coordination with LGUs for La Niña preparations
In fact, the government is already preparing for the expected La Niña phenomenon in the coming months.
For his part, Department of Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Marlo Iringan said that the agency is currently coordinating with the local governments.
“We have created disaster preparedness manuals for our local governments, especially in preparing for typhoons and localized weather disturbances. We have been doing this since 2016,” according to Usec. Marlo Iringan, DILG.
Iringan said that cleaning the creeks or the canals is just one of the strategies of the lgu to prepare for La Niña.
Some of the initiatives that local governments must take is to update their local contingency plans or La Niña Action Plan.
“It is also necessary to have close coordination with PAGASA and with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources particularly our Mines and Geosciences Bureau so that their local hazard maps on rain-induced landslides and floods will be updated,” Iringan added.
He also said LGUs should be able to assess the structural integrity and capacity of their vital facilities such as evacuation centers.
In Marikina City, which is one of the heavily flooded areas whenever it rains or maybe whenever there’s a typhoon, dredging operations in the Marikina River are non-stop in preparation for the approaching La Niña phenomenon.
Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro said that the said river has become deeper and wider compared to before.
“When we dredge, what we improve is the water carrying capacity of the river. This means that a larger volume of water can pass through our river channel,” Mayor Marcy Teodoro, Marikina City stated.
High heat index continues in different parts of the country says PAGASA
Despite these preparations for the upcoming La Niña, PAGASA announced that for now, we are still in the warm and dry season month.
In fact, there are still places where the heat index is still high or at the danger level.
This includes part of the Ilocos Region as well as the Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, part of CALABARZON, Bicol, MIMAROPA, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas.
In Metro Manila, some parts of Pasig City are expected to be at danger level.
But according to Solis, in the next few days it is possible that the heat index will gradually decrease.
“But if we compare it to the previous days, especially during the past two weeks of April, our heat index was relatively higher, reaching more than 50. However, for now, we’re not seeing that; at least the highest we’ve observed is around 46 to 47,” Solis said.
