El Niño in the Philippines

It's been months since it rained here in our country. It is said to be caused by the El Niño phenomenon. According to thefreedictionary El Niño is A warming of the surface water of the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, occurring every 4 to 12 years and causing unusual global weather patterns. An El Niño is said to occur when the trade winds that usually push warm surface water westward weaken, allowing the warm water to pool as far eastward as the western coast of South America. When this happens, the typical pattern of coastal upwelling that carries nutrients from the cold depths to the ocean surface is disrupted, and fish and plankton die off in large numbers. El Niño warming is associated with the atmospheric phenomenon known as the southern oscillation, and their combined effect brings heavy rain to western South American and drought to eastern Australia and Indonesia. El Niño also affects the weather in the United States, but not as predictably. Compare La Nina.

The effects that we are seeing because of this phenomenon are the drought that the farmers are experiencing. Most of the crops are drying because of the lack of irrigation. There are also cases of heat stroke in different parts of the country. Dams are their lowest critical levels and are forced to shorten their productivity times. Last week the country experienced 1 to 2 hours rotational brownouts.

Let us all pray that we may not experience this for a longer time and that the government may find a way to help us solve this problem.

Image Source: http://www.pcarrd.dost.gov.ph