Weather update: Reming is a wild one

Honestly I've never been as giddy about going to the beach as I have been about this weekend's trip. I've been so excited that I've been partially packed for about two days now. I didn't realize that I've missed the sun, the sand and the water so much.

Then this stupid typhoon comes, threatens Manila, turns into a supertyphoon, an indecisive one at that, threatens other parts of Luzon, and now I read this article:

‘Reming’ weakens, heads for southern Luzon

This is what's pissing me off:

"The storm will rip through Mindoro island and Batangas province south of Manila this morning."

and this, too:

"Reming has changed course. The ultimate targets are now Batangas, Marinduque and Mindoro,” said Cruz at a news conference."

Ugh. Apparently it's so bad in Batangas that our resort had to cancel our reservations.

Reming is a spiteful fucker. Who knows where it is tomorrow. I'm very annoyed but I'm going to go to the mall to buy beach provisions anyway.

Weather update: Slow ass super typhoon

He sure is a slow one. He doesn't appear to have moved since Tuesday. Aaaaaaaaaargh!!! Move it and get out of Luzon already, I want to go to the beach this weekend! I'm so annoyed. I mean, COME ON, Reming was predicted to hit Manila yesterday. But noooo, it's just a little bit windy and dark and humid today. That's like every other day in Manila.

UPDATE, 7:48PM:
This is at least 7 hours old. Typhoon2000.com should be updated early tomorrow, if doesn't get affected by the typhoon.

EYEWALL PASSAGE FORECAST TIMES (EPFT):
+ Catanduanes: Ongoing until 1PM today
+ Camarines Sur: 10AM until 7PM today
+ Camarines Norte: 3PM until 11PM today
+ Southern Quezon: 7PM today until 7AM tomorrow
+ Metro Manila: 4AM until 4PM tomorrow

Note: The EyeWall - is the ring of rain clouds surrounding the "EYE" of a Typhoon. It is here where the strongest winds and heaviest rain of a typhoon can be found. EPFT will show what local times on a given area the most damaging winds and heaviest rainfall could be experienced. EPFT changes everytime a new warning synopsis is issued. Important: This is only an estimate analysis, do not use this for life or death decisions.

Weather update: Durian stinks

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

The tropical storm east of Visayas has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and was named "REMING" (international name "Durian").

Location of Center (as of 10:00 a.m.): 870 kms east of Samar
Coordinates: 11.4°N, 134.0°E
Strength: Maximum sustained winds of 95 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 120 kph
Movement: west northwest at 26 kph
Forecast Positions / Outlook:
Wednesday morning: 350 kms east northeast of Samar
Thursday morning: in the vicinity of Catanduanes
Friday morning: in the vicinity of Metro Manila

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I'm going to the beach this weekend in Batangas. All Durian needs to do is to stay on its fucking path and everything will be just peachy.

UPDATE, 10PM: WOOHOO!

I obviously need to chill out.

Super Typhoon!

It was sunny all week! Why storm now?! Curse you, Milenyo/Xangsane! Ack, trusty PAGASA is down!

Ooh Japan Meteorology Agency has nice colored pictures with rings. Pretty. Useful weather info on the Typhoon2000 site.





Thegan (my sister + brother-in-law) and I are supposed to fly out tomorrow night. Aaargh the suspense!

But oh, we can come to work in jeans. Yay.

Oh and if Milenyo continues on its path, then Manila should be back to normal by tomorrow afternoon. Phew. But IF.

Whoa something large and heavy just thudded on our neighbor's roof! I'm supposed to come to work in this weather?! What is this?!

Oh I can't stand this emotional rollercoaster!

UPDATE I (a few minutes later, maybe 930H)
I ventured out in my jammies to check how the roads in the immediate area are. It was drizzling oh-so-slightly. The neighbor's dogs were eerily silent. Hehe they're probably scared shitless, snivelling furballs. Serves them right, they terrorize everybody else on any other day. That's right, I don't like dogs. Can't stand them, they ate my pet rabbit when I was 6.

But then during breakfast, more objects fell on our's and our neighbors' rooves. It's gotten really windy now and it's raining a lot harder. I watched some news and discovered that several provinces are flooded and many of the main roads deemed impassable!

Power cut!

Hmm maybe it is too dangerous to go to work today after all.

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UPDATE II (1216H)
This is the second time I've come to work soaking wet. This is the first time I've ever gone out in weather this bad. Felled trees along the way, flying corrugated iron sheets, lamp posts broken and weighing down on telelphone lines, it's not even funny.I actually feared for my life. I can't remember the number of trees I saw scattered in the middle of the road (I have a picture! Will upload that when I have the chance). On C5, on Kalayaan Avenue, everywhere we drove past. One car had the misfortune of having a tree smash into its windshield. Mum actually rang me from Melbourne to ask about the weather and if there's a chance our flight tomorrow will be cancelled. I may have to crash at Thegan's tonight, they live only a few blocks away.

Now they're moving us to a different section of the office, because there's a dangerously swaying large iron sheet on the rooftop of the building next to us.

UPDATE III (a few more minutes later)
We just had a meeting. We are now free to go home. It's prolly safer for me to hang out here for a while. Typhoon is expected to really hit later this afternoon. But it's coming down now and it's coming down hard.

UPDATE IV (1240H)
My colleagues and I have been looking at the situation outside. We just saw iron sheets fly off like paper from a pile on the rooftop of another building and nearly hit a car down below. A large piece of tree was moving up on Paseo. Power cuts everywhere and people texting us that billboards on EDSA have been ripped off by heavy winds. This storm means business. Traffic down below has begun to pile up because of debris.

Hehe no one's working.

UPDATE V (1256H)
Our building is swaying. I'm scared. We have to shut down our computers now.

UPDATE VI (1346H)
Back in the office. We were instructed to descend to the lobby and hang about. Hairboy and I occupied our time by chatting to other stranded employees, having a cigarette in a suffocating room because the vent fans weren't working and looking for provisions. Our shared spoils include peanuts, a cloud 9 bar and soda. The skies look relatively clearer now. The eye of the storm must be nearing Makati. Phew. That was an adventure. Now the challenge is getting home through the floods. Some brave souls have decided to head on home. I think I'll hang around for a bit until I find a phone charger.

LAST UPDATE (1410H)
Winds are picking up again in the south, it'll prolly get crazy again in the next hour or so but forecast says Milenyo's still moving northwest and it's expected to be in Zambales by tomorrow evening.

Btw Jax, your precious Sam Milby's billboard just killed someone: Falling billboard kills driver

Okay I really have to work now.

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A VERY LATE PHOTO UPDATE 9 Oct 2006, 2257h

I was trying to get to work but this huge tree was in the way and some bystanders were dissuading me from moving on because the winds might whip the tree backwards and smack me.

Along Paseo, on my way home from work. This was around 5 PM.

The entrance to our subdivision.

Other places in Metro Manila:

Weather update: Another rainy week

How depressing. Just when I thought we were going to get at least three days of sunshine, Katring comes round.

GALE WARNING NO. 10
For Strong Winds Associated with the Southwest Monsoon
Issued at 5:00 a.m., Today, 15 AUGUST 2006
THE SURGE OF STRONG WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOUTHWEST MONSOON IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT THE WESTERN SEABOARDS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LUZON AND THE WESTERN SEABOARD OF VISAYAS. THE SEABOARDS OF MINDORO AND SCARBOROUGH AND THE WESTERN AND EASTERN SEABOARDS OF VISAYAS WILL EXPERIENCE MONSOON RAINS. WHILE THE WESTERN AND EASTERN SEABOARDS OF MINDANAO WILL HAVE ISOLATED RAINSHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS. WINDS OF 40 TO 65 KPH (22 TO 35 KNOTS) ARE EXPECTED AND SEA CONDITIONS WILL BE ROUGH TO VERY ROUGH WITH WAVE HEIGHTS OF 2.5 TO 5.0 METERS.

FISHING BOATS AND OTHER SMALL SEACRAFTS ARE ADVISED NOT TO VENTURE OUT INTO THE SEA WHILE BIGGER SEACRAFTS ARE ALERTED AGAINST MODERATE TO HIGH WAVES. WATCH FOR THE NEXT UPDATE TO BE ISSUED AT 5:00 PM TODAY

From PAGASA as usual.

Weather update: Inday

She's in the Batanes-Taiwan area right now and heading westward. Woohoo we're in the clear! No wonder rain has been scarce lately and Manila's been hot and sticky the past few days. I'm beginning to find all this weather watching quite exciting, I should like to make a habit of it.

Image taken from PAGASA

Henry and the Weather

There's another one! This time it's male. I don't know what that means, one of my officemates says that they use a masculine name when the storm is stronger. But this one hasn't been spewing particularly aggressive rains or blowing winds powerful enough to frighten me like Glenda did.

Trusty PAGASA says:

Tropical Depression "HENRY" was estimated based on radar, satellite and surface data at 50 kms west northwest of Casiguran, Aurora (16.5°N 121.8°E) with maximum sustained winds of 55 kph. It is forecast to move west northwest at 13 kph. Southwest monsoon affecting Southern Luzon and Western Visayas.

So there are in fact two storms raging at the moment, Henry and a yet unnamed one roaming the southwestern region. So for those travelling here, be prepared for a long and wet rest of 2006.

I did some quick research on some terms that PAGASA uses and I just want to know why there are so many names for storm.

So tropical depression, tropical storm, hurricane and typhoon are all tropical cyclones but different terms are used depending on how strong the cyclones are and which place they're hovering over.

The Tropical Cyclone is a warm core low pressure system which develops over tropical, and sometimes subtropical, waters, and has an organized circulation. Depending on sustained surface winds, the system is classified as a tropical disturbance, a tropical depression, a tropical storm, or a hurricane or typhoon.

Tropical Depression

• a mass of thunderstorms and clouds generally with a cyclonic wind circulation of between 20 and 34 knots
• a tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface winds are 38 miles per hour (33 knots) or less

Storm

• any disturbed state of a planet's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong winds, thunder and lightning, heavy precipitation, such as ice
• an atmospheric disturbance manifested in strong winds accompanied by rain, snow, or other precipitation and often by thunder and lightning

Hurricane
aka Typhoon, Tropical Cyclones, Willy- Willies (!)

• tropical storms with wind speeds of 64 knots (117km/h) up to 240 knots (414 km/h) that can be thousands of square kilometers in size
• usually have a lifespan of several days

The Typhoon

• forms in the western Pacific Ocean

This is one more term I like to use a lot because it sounds cool:

The Monsoon

• seasonal shift of winds created by the great annual temperature variation that occurs over large land areas in contrast with associated ocean surfaces
• associated primarily with the moisture and copious rains
• any wind that changes direction with the seasons
• characterized by very heavy rainfall

Basically, they are all the same thing.
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References: Weather.com, Climate / Weather Terms Glossary, Weather Glossary, Wikipedia and Dictionary.com

Hello Glenda

Welcome to the monsoon season. After Florita left, we had about two hours of sunshine stickiness until the next typhoon blanketed the country wet and grey. It has been raining intermittently all weekend. And how. I am the kind of person who likes walking in the rain and marvelling at raindrop behavior on windowpanes and in puddles but it's kinda hard to do that when they're pelting you full in the face making it impossible for you to breathe or see clearly, if at all. It has gotten to the point where I really wouldn't mind a day or two of dryness. Last night's and today's downpour have been so torrential that I'm beginning to worry whether I still have a home to go to later. I've become addicted to PAGASA:

Issued At: 5:00 p.m., 24 July 2006
Synopsis : At 2:00 p.m. today, Typhoon "GLENDA" was estimated based on radar, satellite and surface data at 140 kms northeast of Basco, Batanes (21.2°N 123.0°E) with maximum sustained winds of 150 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 185 kph. It is forecast to move west northwest at 17 kph. Southwest monsoon affecting western sections of Southern Luzon and Visayas.

Sigh. Well there's really not that much to report at the moment except that I had a wonderful and loud Saturday and then a rainy and very quiet Sunday. I'm meeting with C and O later after work. They just got up half an hour ago. They're the laziest tourists ever. Hehe. I'll come back when I've done or discovered something of a more interesting nature. Till then.

Weather update: Tropical Storm Florita still hanging about

According to ever reliable PAGASA:

Weather
Issued at: 5:00 a.m., 16 July 2006
Synopsis: Southwest monsoon affecting Extreme Northern and Central Luzon. Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) affecting Mindanao.

For the past week, Florita has caused massive landslides in Baguio, threatened to tear the roof off our house, actually tore off the roof of one of my cab driver's neighbor's house narrowly missing my cabbie while he was milling about outside his own house, thrown me into a puddle of mud water (it's a long story) and, this is the last straw, forced me to carry around an umbrella, making me the object of my friends' ridicule. I thought we were catching Florita's tail end yesterday but it rained hard again early this morning. So I dunno what that's about. I don't know why I even bother trying to make sense of Philippine weather. I guess I don't like to be caught unawares and getting thrown into the mud.

I've been quite productive over the weekend, I met up with a friend I used to see or talk to every single day for 3 years but haven't seen a lot of since I changed jobs. We got a lot of catching up done over dinner and coffee and it was really good to see him again and hear what he's been up to. Also I got a lot of layout work done, managed to secure another tentative job quite by accident really and secured another one from this guy whose project I'm currently at work on. Oh yeah haha I was able to squeeze in a couple of logo entries for this contest at our office. It's for a sportsfest that's starting sometime in August. So this logo making competition went around and I really wanted to join since I found out but thought I didn't have enough time to get around to. Well apparently there's this amazing place close to my office that has free internet access (I am disclosing neither name nor location) and I was able to pop out during my dinner break on Friday to work on my entries and get some online work done. The deadline was yesterday. Hihi the prize isn't much, a couple of thousand pesos in gift certificates, redeemable at any sports shop. Cross your fingers for me, I want to get a sports bra.

Stormy Weather

Saturday mornings I attend a German class. Since I'm paying for it, I try not to miss a lesson, though I'm seldom on time. I study more than I expected to and I have to learn about 50 new words every week which is difficult since German words tend to be oh-so-loooooooooooong. But it's good, I'm having loads of fun which is a little strange considering I used to like not going to class. My classmates are all quite good (but they're all going down bwahaha), the dimmer ones having been weeded out in the last couple of levels hihihi! Okay I'm sorry (but not really). But yeah I enjoy it so much that I even got a book called "German Made Simple" yesterday.

Hehe I started reading it too! Anyway after class I went to visit my old workplace to say hi but they were too busy for me! So I left and had some beauty services done instead. The lady who sorted out my eyebrows has asked me to leave them alone. She did such a good job that I think I will. Then I went to dinner with friends and while we were gorging on yummy italian food, the skies opened and released sheets and sheets of water. Yay! I'm used to heavy rains here but that downpour frightened me a little. It lasted several minutes. After dinner, some of us went home but I went with a couple of them to this lovely place that I used to frequent earlier this year. Yes I had my usual lassi there. My mom rang me and asked me where I was. Apparently it rained so hard that it flooded in our area (and it almost never does there). So I stayed out a bit then spent the night at some kind soul's house.

It rained some more on Sunday so after lunch with the family, I spent the afternoon at home, tidying up my room making it look slightly less of a yard sale, sorted out my laundry and did my bathroom inventory. I need soap. Then I did some design revisions and watched three Grey's Anatomy episodes in a row. Meredith is still annoying. Then I had a much needed massage and fell asleep a few times, disorienting me each time. But it was soooo good.

Okay it's time for my hot choco and I have to work now, I really shouldn't be slacking off so early in my employment.