And more rains will come in the coming days and weeks, Al Quiblat of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in Mactan said.
Last Friday’s rain was brought by a localized thunderstorm, and not the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), as the latter’s effect was still in the Mindanao region that time.
“(The category was) Intense to Torrential, meaning the rainfall exceeded 15 milliliters (ml). During the one and a half hour that it was raining, there was an accumulated 48 milliliters of rain so more or less, the category was torrential rain,” Quiblat said in Cebuano.
Rain can be considered torrential if the rainwater collected in the rain gauge in an hour is more than 38 ml.
Quiblat said more rain will come in the coming days and weeks as the ITCZ already reached the Visayas region on Saturday, May 20.
“Mao ning dag-om ta, mga cloudy ug naay mga light nga pag-ulan, posibli karong gabie kay naay mga thunderstorm nga pag-ulan (This is the reason we have dark skies. It’s cloudy with light rainshower. It’s possible tonight there will be a thunderstorm),” Quiblat said on Saturday.
The weather agency is also monitoring the transition period from dry season to wet season with the entry of the habagat or southwest monsoon in the end of May to end of June this year.
“We will see the onset of the rainy season and the southwest monsoon soon,” Quiblat added.