Forecasters say it fits neatly between “very rainy” and “also rainy, but windy”

PAGASA has quietly introduced a fourth seasonal classification, “Slightly More Rain,” to sit alongside the existing three, after meteorologists concluded the country’s weather patterns had grown “too nuanced for the old system.”

A More Precise Forecast

“We used to just say rainy or very rainy,” said senior forecaster Corazon Villafuerte. “Now we can say slightly more rain, which honestly tells people almost the same thing, but with more scientific confidence.”

The new classification arrives just in time for a season residents have taken to calling, informally, “the wet one that isn’t typhoon season, but still requires an umbrella at all times, just in case.”

Public Reaction

Umbrella vendors near LRT stations report business as steady as ever, regardless of season, a fact one vendor called “the most reliable forecast in the country.”

The London Prat covers Britain’s equally famous obsession with weather on its weather and lifestyle desk, though the British version mostly just means “grey.”

The Philippine Star notes PAGASA is also reportedly considering a fifth category for “rain that seems personally targeted at your commute.”

Villafuerte says the bureau remains focused on accuracy, “even if accuracy now requires four different words for wet.”

Looking Ahead

Residents are advised to carry an umbrella at all times, a piece of advice PAGASA has issued, in some form, every single day for the past several decades.

Villafuerte says a fifth classification, “aggressively humid,” is also under internal review, though she cautioned it may simply be folded back into the existing three, “because at some point you have to draw a line, scientifically speaking.”

For now, the bureau is recommending residents simply assume it will rain, an approach Villafuerte describes as “low-tech, but historically undefeated.”

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SOURCE: https://bohiney.com