Forecasting temperature conditions
The cartoon character IN LAST Sunday’s issue of the Baguio Midland Courier has to be explained.
Baguio experienced the lowest temperature at 9.4 degrees Celsius on Feb. 21, the lowest in three years, and it could still dip. It is traced to the northeast monsoon on wind that carried cool air from the northern neighboring winter countries into the Philippines from December to early March, and the high elevation areas like Benguet and Mountain Province are most affected.
The sun emits almost 99 percent of the short wavelength and once the light hits the Earth’s surface, it is radiated back to the atmosphere in long wavelengths, thus we can do temperature forecasting ourselves with this understanding.
During sunny days and clear nights, expect that the evening temperature is low because the outgoing radiation from the ground which are long waves or heat waves could go freely through the higher strata of the atmosphere, thus the temperature near the ground is cool.
On the other hand, during sunny days and cloudy nights, the temperature on the ground is high since there is a cloud formation above that traps the outgoing radiation from the Earth’s surface thereby heat waves are accumulated and we feel warm. — PERCIVAL B. ALIPIT, Baguio City