By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz
The state weather bureau recorded the hottest day yet this dry season in Metro Manila with the mercury soaring to 35.9 degrees Celsius mid-Saturday afternoon.
Children wash their hands from a deep well pump to beat the heat at Muntinlupa City. (JANSEN ROMERO / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The highest air temperature reading in Metro Manila was observed at around 2:50 p.m. at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (PAGASA) Science Garden monitoring station in Quezon City.
It surpassed the 35.4 degrees Celsius registered last April 6 and 10.
PAGASA earlier explained that the Science Garden monitoring station in Quezon City is the “most ideal” place to get the highest air temperature in the metropolis because of the absence of “obstructions,” unlike at the NAIA and Port Area stations where “smoke, urban heat, buildings, and airplanes” affect the air temperature.
Based on the PAGASA data, the highest temperature in Philippine history is 42.2 degrees Celsius, recorded in Tuguegarao, Cagayan on May 11, 1969.
Meanwhile, the hottest day in Metro Manila was 38.5 degrees Celsius recorded on May 14, 1987.