PG in Dec/Jan ...so rainy?

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npole

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I'm not sure how the weather forecast are accurate over there, however I see rain and rain across the whole December. Is it the case.. or it's just the usual tropical destination where you have those showers that last 30 minutes and then the sun again?
 
Hmm, yes/no? Because of the tropical nature of the weather, the forecasters will typically put rain for most days as there's always a chance.

But this time of year, the rains are light when they come. Some days are mostly clear with possible small pockets of rain which pass quickly, and some days are Seattle-like overcast with some of the lightest (small drops, almost fog like) mist that I've ever seen.

Instead of "Chances of Rain", I try to look at barometric pressure pockets. In my opinion, they are more telling of what a day will be like. Higher pressure suggests Clear/Mostly Clear, while low(er) pressure should indicate more of a covered overcast. Also, on those overcast days, often the sun will "burn it off" by midafternoon. I like to use the website and app called "Windy".

The weather is so pleasent here this time of year, really the only thing to look out for in planning a trip is LPAs (The larger oceanic Low Pressure Areas which can develop into Tropical storms and Typhoons/Hurricanes).
 
I've been PG the past two years in December---last year it rained off and on for five days and the seas in front of Sabang were rough and no trips to Verde Islands. We ended up diving in the lagoon by Puerto Galera on most days. The year before we were blown out of the water by Typhoon Nina and yes it spoiled just about everything--but you roll the dice and takes your chances--which are usually pretty good! Both years we were in Bohol and Dauin the weeks before PG and the weather was perfect--go figure.
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Having been living in PG for the last seven years I would say it does rain a little bit more in December but mostly its short sometimes heavy showers that last no longer than 30 minutes and doesn't effect the diving at all. There is a chance of a storm system blowing through and it looks like we will be effected by a tropical storm over the weekend. Luckily for us we haven't had an strong storms in our area this year, for that we are thankful. At the moment the sea temp is 24 degrees so starting to get a little chilly for some.
 
Yeah, these models are complicated and educated guesses at best. On Windy, it shows the depression passing south of Mindoro, across the northern part of Palawan, with Metro Manila, Anilao, and PG being affected by the wind and rain being thrown north of the system. It looks like significant rainfall in Metro Manila/Southern Luzon, with "moderate?" rainfall in PG.

Interestingly, until overnight Saturday into Sunday, the winds look fairly calm in PG/Verde Island and the channel with speeds predicted around 15 knots, increasing to 25 knots Sat overnight. The main issue there is the wind will change direction, coming through the straight, allowing the seas to kick up.

If anyone already has plans (or is already here), I would suggest Anilao as your safest bet against the weather affecting your trip. Puerto Galera is a bit of a gamble now, but might be ok. Anilao has the benefit of being sheltered from the wind. The winds tend to come off Luzon, along the peninsula, and out to sea, therefore the waves tend to stay low and the sites remain diveable. Regarding rain.... well we're getting wet anyways right? :D Shouldn't be too big of an issue, beyond minor inconvenience while traveling.
 
At least we can see it coming unlike those folks living around Sunda Strait in Indonesia.
 
At least we can see it coming unlike those folks living around Sunda Strait in Indonesia.

OMG, so true kuya. I am still in disbelief of how quickly that wave moved in with no warning. So tragic :(.

We are pretty lucky here in PH with the arrangement of the islands... I think they would help to prevent such a large, powerful wave from coming without notice. BUT, warning people, especially in the provencal coastlines would still be a challenge.

Oh, and, nothing says that Windy is correct or any better of a forecast than the models that WeatherPH or PAGASA are using. There are 3 main forecast model methods, ECMWF 9km, GFS 22km, NEMS 4-12km, and ICON-EU 6km. It just comes down to which model(s) are being used.

According to Windy "most weather sites use GFS model because it's free and available, while ECMWF must be paid." Windy has both available, but defaults to ECMWF because they say "studies show ECMWF is most accurate forecasting model". I highly recommend Windy because of all the options. It was started by a kite and helicopter pilot (hence the name), and provides multiple surf swell, wave predictions, sea temp, fog, dust, ozone, high/low clouds, etc...

But at anyways, I've always been interested by weather. I sure get a lot more weather to track and try to predict here in PH than I did back in Arizona. :D
 
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