Philippine Temperature Soars to 37 Degrees Celsius

Metro Manila's temperature hit 35.8 degrees Celsius Saturday, its hottest since January this year while the entire Philippines experienced its hottest last Thursday when General Santos City's temperature soared to 36.6 degrees Celsius.

The Philippines' weather bureau, PAGASA said the country will continue to experience warm weather in the coming days as no inclement weather is forecast during the week. Tuguegarao City in northern Philippines was forecast to hit 37 degrees this Sunday.

Meanwhile, a state of calamity has been declared in Pangasinan, to enable the local government to tap funds necessary to deal with the dry spell. Farmers are being forced to harvest their crops prematurely due to lack of water.

Other areas placed under a state of calamity are Banaue in ifugao, and Tuguegarao City in Cagayan, all in northern Philippines. In a related development, the country's irrigation dams are fast drying up due to almost zero rainfall with the onset of the summer season which normally last until May.

The dams do not only provide water for irrigation for agriculture sector but they also generate electricity for commercial and industrial uses. Cloud seeding has been ongoing in some places across the country but produced little rainfall which is not enough to raise the water level in the dams to sustain their continued operations, resulting in electric power interruptions across the country.

(original article appeared @ Digital Journal )