Before the rains: Brush up on disaster preparedness

Recent heavy rains and thunderstorms across the country may have looked and felt like the rainy season is in full swing—but as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) clarified, we're still in the transition period.

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To declare the start of the rainy season, at least seven of the 13 monitoring stations across the western parts of Luzon and the Visayas must report five consecutive days of rain, with each station recording a minimum total of 25 mm of rainfall during that period.

Once both the rainfall and wind criteria are met, the state weather agency will announce the official start of the rainy season, which usually occurs between the second half of May and the first half of June.

This distinction is important, not because it tells us when to open our umbrellas, but because it gives us a valuable window of time to prepare.