Introduction
To really experience the Philippines, like any place else, one has to stay for awhile. And that means dealing with the climate. Being between 20° North and 5° North latitude places the Philippines squarely in the tropics. Which means if you are like me, and spent the majority of your life at higher latitudes (45° North for me), the tropics can take a bit of getting used too. So let me try to explain the climate in the Philippines, at least as I have experienced it.
Temperature
Fromm my experience average temperatures vary between 25° C and 35° C (that’s 77° F to 95° F). However be forewarned, that these are averages, and that daytime temperatures can get much hotter, and night time temperatures somewhat lower. It is not unusual to see day time temperatures climb to 38° C (100° F) and hotter.
I live up on Tagaytay ridge which is at 600 meters (or 2,000 feet) above sea level, so the temperatures here are about 5° cooler than down by the coast.
Generally, from my experience, December, January, and February are the coldest months. And May, Jun, and July are the warmest months.
Precipitation (Rain)
Rainfall varies depending on the area, anywhere from 1000 mm (40 inches) to 5000mm (200 inches). Since I grew jup oin teh pacific North West of the US, I am somewhat used to this type of rain fall. Some times we wound see the sun and say “Hey Look, its a UFO!”
Just be aware that the Philippines gets a lot of rain. In fact there are Rain Forrest’s in the Philippines. Something to be aware of if you come form a dryer climate.
As a side note, getting so much rain, warm tempertueres, and being an island, humidity in the Philippines is high.
Storms
Something else to be aware of, the Philippines tends to experience about 30 storms a year. These range form tropical depressions to full blown typhoons.
Typhoon season from late June to early November. So that averages out to around four storms a month, or one a week if you want ot be pessimistic.
Conclusion
Once upon a time I wanted to retire to Alaska. I spent six years up there and loved every minute of it. However as I got old, got arthritis, got eczema, and a few other assorted aches and pains. And the colder and dryer it got, the worse they got.
I love the tropical climate of the Philippines. Most of my aches and pains just go away while I am here. And living up on top of a mountain, I don’t really have to worry about storms. I mean yes, there is still the wind, but we have never seen any flooding. All the rain water just runs down the hill.
Now volcanoes and earth quakes are something we do worry about, but that is a subject for another post.