The Philippine Online Chronicles

While a so-called "snowpocalypse" is threatening the US Midwest, cold weather and rains due to a Low Pressure Area (LPA) will continue to trouble Filipinos.

This is due to the La Niña phenomenon, weather experts said.

Marked by extreme weather patterns, the El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurs periodically, often every five years. This year will seem to pose a trial for countries around the world, with major snowstorms in the northern hemisphere, and heavy rainfall affecting not only the Philippines but other countries close to and below the equator.

Major cities in Luzon and Palawan (Metro Manila, Tuguegarao, Laoag, Baguio, SBMA/Angeles City, Tagaytay, Legaspi and Puerto Princesa) are predicted by weather bureau Pagasa to have partly cloudy to cloudy skies, with isolated rainshowers.

Meanwhile, the skies over Visayas and Mindanao (Iloilo/ Bacolod, Metro Cebu, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, Metro Davao, Zamboanga) are predicted to be cloudy with rainshowers and thunderstorms.

Temperature in Metro Manila will range from 21 to 30 degrees Celsius, while Baguio temperature may go as low as 11 to 22 degrees Celsius.

Temperature in other areas are predicted to not go below 21 degrees Celsius and no more than 30 degrees Celsius. (Full chart here.)

According to Pagasa, the wet weather in the southern Philippines has been aggravated by an LPA, located an estimated 90 kilometers east of General Santos City. Residents are thus warned to be on alert for possible flashfloods and landslides.

Record-breaking weather

A new rainfall record beset Western Australia in January. Kuri Bay in the Kimberley got 1339.5 millimeters of rainfall from January 1 to 27, the highest monthly rainfall ever recorded in WA, the Australian weather office said in a statement. The record is more than 328 percent higher than the average January rainfall in the area, at 407.4 mm.

The previous record for the region was 1321.7 mm at Roebuck Plains, also in Kimberley, in January 1917.

While current conditions are not yet extreme in the US or Canada, officials expect to get record amounts of snow, with US government officials urging citizens to be prepared for major snowstorms, and Canadian meteorologists predicting increasing cloud cover in certain areas in the country.

'Mostly fine'

According to a graph by the World Meteorological Organization, inland China and most of South America, as well as parts of Africa, will have "fine" weather, meaning the areas will be mostly sunny.

Areas close to the coast, however, will be beset with rain or snow, or will have cloudy skies.