While everyone expects scorching heat and summer getaway plans are being hatched, online weather monitoring stations registered as low as 14 degrees Celsius on Saturday here.
In Baguio City, the lowest recorded was 13 degrees Celsius at early morning on the same day.
In Mt. Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon, www.weather.com recorded that temperature dropped to 1 degree Celsius early in the morning. The reading as of 8:00 a.m. was placed at 6 degrees Celsius.
Tourists tolerated the 90 degrees Celsius coldness of dawn to witness sunrise on top of Mt. Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon.
From the base camp, a hike starting at 2:00 a.m. would be the best timing to witness the majestic sea of clouds as dawn breaks.
On Jan. 19 last year, a similar temperature drop in Mt. Pulag was reported.
“It should be always like this,” a resident of Hungduan, Ifugao commented.
Hungduan and Tinoc towns of Ifugao are at the north face of Mt. Pulag, which are places with cool summer sought after by tourists.
Other upland towns of Luzon, like Sagada in Mountain Province, are favorite summer destinations.
Hungduan is also getting a share of local and international tourists due to its pristine rice terraces.
Some tourists are no longer happy with Banaue Rice Terraces because the landscape was invaded by settlements.
Native houses were replaced by concrete and galvanized iron roofed structures.
But not everyone is happy.
“Incidents of upper respiratory illnesses such as colds, cough and asthma manifested in some residents of Hungduan, which registered 9 degrees Celsius at 3:25 a.m. of Saturday,” posted Rowena Sicat, Hungduan’s tourism officer, on social media.
“Severe coldness destroyed cabbage and other leafy vegetables. Farmers are suffering from huge losses during these times. Perhaps we should also make our farms as tourist attractions to compensate our losses during cold days,” remarked Florante Bela-o, an organic farmer based in Loo, Buguias town in Benguet. Abe Almirol
The local Agromet weather station at the Nueva Vizcaya State University showed records that February uses to be the coldest month here.
Tuguegarao City, the hottest spot in the north, also recorded a low 17 degrees Celsius at the early hours of Saturday morning but rose to the usual hot 28 degrees as of 10:00 a.m.
