The words weather and climate have quite different meanings. When we speak of weather, we usually mean the condition of the atmosphere at a particular time. We have no way of controlling the weather. From having a warm sunny day, to a rainy day or to having storms and winds. It changes all the time. It can change from hour to hour or day to day. On the contrary, climate is the average weather conditions of a region, season by season. Global position, temperature, rainfall, winds and ocean currents are factors that affect climate.
Weather patterns in the Philippines are dictated by the prevailing wind systems—the habagat (southwest monsoon) which runs from May to October, the amihan (northeast monsoon), which prevails from November to early May and the trade winds which prevail over the tropics during the rest of the year and whenever the northeast monsoon and the southeast monsoon are weak. They generally come from the East.
Amihan (Northeast Monsoon)
Habagat (Southwest Monsoon)
The Philippines is located in the tropics. Climate in the Philippines has been described in terms of the characteristics of the distribution of rainfall received in a locality during the different months of the year. There are four climatic types in the Philippines.
Type I-two pronounced season, dry from November to April and wet during the rest of the year. Maximum rain period is from June to September.
Type II-no dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period from December to February. There is not a single dry month. Minimum monthly rainfall occurs during the period from March to May.
Type III-no very pronounced maximum rain period with a dry season lasting only from one to three months, either during the period from December to February or from March to May. This type resembles Type I since it has short dry season.
Type IV-is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year. This type resembles Type II since it has no dry season. (kidlt.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/cab/climate.htm)
Over 50% of the rainfall in the Philippines is associated with typhoons and tropical storms. Twenty typhoons on average hit the Philippines every year. The typhoons which affect the Philippines generally come from the Caroline-Marianas Island Group in the Pacific Ocean. Typhoons are strongest in the ocean and they weaken as they hit land. The eastern sections of the country, from Leyte to Batanes, feel the full strength of the incoming typhoons.
