A La Nina warning has been in place in the Philippines since July 2024, but it has yet to reach the threshold for an official La Nina declaration, said Ana Liza Solis, chief of the Philippine weather agency PAGASA's Climate Forecasting and Monitoring Division.
"We are near the threshold or at the border because we can already see the potential impacts of La Nina. That's why we are issuing advisories about La Nina-like weather conditions," she said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.
"As of now, we predict a 72 percent chance of La Nina," the Philippine weather forecaster stressed.
"At least in January, February or March this year, we will see a similar situation," she added.
Solis also noted that PAGASA does not rule out the possibility of La Nina appearing in the coming months. "The possibility of reaching La Nina threshold is still there, but it may not then strengthen into a full-blown La Nina lasting six months or more," she said.
Previously, in November 2024, PAGASA forecasted a 74% chance of La Nina developing between December 2024 and January 2025.
“The La Nina warning remains in place, with La Nina-like conditions prevailing in the tropical Pacific,” Ana Liza Solis noted at the time.
According to the Philippine expert, weak La Nina is expected to last until the first quarter of 2025 and strong La Nina is unlikely to occur.
Also related to the Philippine weather, in the storm forecast for January 2025, PAGASA stated that there is a possibility of no or 1 storm affecting the country during the forecast period.
PAGASA typhoon forecaster Ana Clauren told the Inquirer that if the storm forms in January, it could hit Southern Luzon or the Visayas.
In early 2025, PAGASA also released a list of storm names for this year's typhoon season. These names will be given to storms that form or enter the Philippine PAR forecast area.
The list of 25 storm names for the 2025 storm season in the Philippines includes: Auring, Bising, Crising, Dante, Emong, Fabian, Gorio, Huaning, Isang, Jacinto, Kiko, Lannie, Mirasol, Nando, Opong, Paolo, Quedan, Ramil, Salome , Tino, Uwan, Verbena, Wilma, Yasmin, Zoraida.
If this year's hurricane season has more than 25 storms, additional storm names expected to be used include: Alamid, Bruno, Conching, Dolor, Ernie, Florante, Gerardo, Hernan, Isko, Jerome.
PAGASA assigns local names to tropical storms that enter or form within the PAR forecast area - an area designated by the World Meteorological Organization for the Philippine state weather agency to monitor. PAGASA began assigning local names to storms in 1963.
