as if to reiterate my global warming fears...
Hailstone surprise in Baguio and Benguet
BAGUIO CITY: The Baguio City Weather Bureau said that hail accompanying last Saturday’s downpour in Baguio and Benguet was not an ordinary occurrence, although it is likely to happen again due to the continuing warming of the environment.
Joseph Rios, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said over ABS-CBN Baguio City that raining hail might occur again this August due to a weather occurrence called “convection.”
Weather Specialist, Wilson Lucando, said that convection usually happens when solar radiation heats the ground, resulting in moist warm air. The warm air then becomes lighter and rises into the atmosphere. As the air gets cooler, droplets usually form and fall to the ground in the form of rain. However, there are times when not all water vapor turns into rain and instead form ice pellets or hailstones.
Residents in Lourdes Proper, Dominican, Middle Rock Quarry and City Camp brought out basins to catch pieces of hailstone.
Grace Enriquez, of Lourdes expressed her surprise over the hailstone last Saturday, saying it was rare.
Rios recalled that a hailstorm happened in 1996 and it will likely repeat this coming August.
The municipalities of Atok and Kibungan in Benguet earlier lost P49 million as a result of hail forming in their farms, as more than 200 hectares of farm lots in the two towns were greatly affected.
--Thom F. Picaña
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great. drought, hailstorm, tornadoes....accompanying our usual supertyphoons, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes? hmmm....what's next? sandstorm?
