Introduction

The Climate of the Philippines is a tropical marine climate dominated by a rainy season,

dry season and a cool season that dominates on November to Mid-February. The summer

monsoon brings heavy rains to most of the archipelago from May to October, whereas the

winter monsoon brings cooler and drier air from December to February. Manila and most of the

lowland areas are hot and dusty from March to May. Even at this time, however, temperatures

rarely rise above 37 °C (99 °F). Mean annual sea-level temperatures rarely fall below 27 °C

(81 °F). Annual average rainfall ranges from as much as 5,000 millimetres (200 in) in the

mountainous east coast section of the country to less than 1,000 millimetres (39 in) in some of

the sheltered valleys. Monsoon rains, although hard and drenching, are not normally associated

with high winds and waves. But the Philippines sit astride the typhoon belt, and the country

suffers an annual onslaught of dangerous storms from July through October. These are

especially hazardous for northern and eastern Luzon and the Bicol and Eastern Visayas

regions, but Manila gets devastated periodically as well.

Philippine Climatic Map
 Different types of climate
Type 1 - Two pronounced seasons, wet and dry, with maximum rain period from June to
September and a dry season which lasts from 3 to 6 months.
Type II - No dry season, with a very pronounced maximum rain period that occurs in December
and January.
Type III - Not very pronounced maximum rain period, with a short dry season lasting from 1 to
3 months.
Type IV - Rainfall more or less distributed throughout the year.

The western part of Luzon, Palawan, and the Visayas islands have Type I climate, with marked
dry and wet seasons. Rainfall in these areas occurs mostly during the southwest monsoon season.
Most of the eastern parts of the archipelago have Type II climate, having no pronounced dry
season with rainfall maximum from November to January. Rainfall in these areas is due to both
large-scale precipitation during the southwest monsoon season and orographic precipitation
during the Pacific trade winds and northeast monsoon season. Types III and IV cover most of
Mindanao and the central part of the Philippines along a north-south axis and are somewhere
between Types I and II. This climate type is defined by precipitation due to the intertropical
convergence zone.

Being within the northwest Pacific basin the Philippines is frequently visited by typhoons or
cyclones. The country experiences 19 or more typhoons a year on average. Tropical cyclones,
and the resulting floods and storm surges are the most destructive of all weather-related disasters.
They can occur any time of the year, although the most come during the southwest monsoon
season, from June to October. The strongest typhoon in the Philippines occurred in 1970 when
wind speeds of around 275 km per hour were recorded near the centre of tropical cyclone
"Sening" when it passed over Virac, Catanduanes. Typhoons "Unding", "Violeta" and "Winnie"
which came in December 2004 were three of the most destructive typhoons that brought floods,
devastated properties and claimed hundreds of lives.

Moist zone - Regions with rainfall ranging from 1 500 to 2 500 mm annually with moderate
moisture deficit during the dry season and a crop growing period of 210 to 270 days. It covers
most of the present agricultural and expansion area in the lowland, upland and hilly regions.
Moist zone areas cover 5.7 million ha in Luzon, mostly in the Cordillera Autonomous Region
and Ilocos Region. In the Visayas, it occupies 2.8 million ha, 72% of which is found in the
eastern region. In Mindanao, it covers 6.5 million ha.

Dry zone - Low rainfall regions with precipitation of less than 1 500 mm annually and with
considerable moisture deficit during the dry season. The crop growing period is less than 6
months in some lowland and upland areas. Most of the dry zone area is found in Luzon with 1.8
million ha, mostly in its central region. A dry zone is also found in Central Visayas with 0.4
million ha and in Mindanao with about 0.5 million ha covering portions of Davao del Sur,
General Santos City, Cotabato City and Koronadal.
Wet zone - Regions with rainfall usually greater than 2,500 mm annually with slight
moisture deficit during the dry season and a crop growing period of 270 to 320
days. Average temperature is cool ranging from 19.0° to 22.90°C. These conditions
dominate in the hilly/mountainous to highland regions. The wet zone area covers
47.6% (6.7 million ha) of Luzon's total area, 44% (2.5 million ha) in Visayas and
31.5% (3.2 million ha) in Mindanao. In areas where slope and other soil properties
are favourable, this zone is favourable for the production of some traditional and
exotic crops such as tea, grapes, pears, strawberries and other plants which require
semi-temperate conditions.