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Tag Archives: weather
On the impact of more frequent lightning strikes on airports
We were waiting for our plane to arrive at the airport yesterday and can’t help but observe the heavy rains falling while a strong wind blows and causes the rains to fall at an angle. This renders umbrellas to be ineffective in keeping you dry if you’re outdoors. Such weather requires a long coat or even overalls to keep one dry on a very wet day. The rains and wind were brought about by a storm affecting the area. Though distant, the storm was able to influence the weather. Fortunately, there wasn’t any lightning and we wondered if lightning strikes have affected ground crew working in an open area that makes them vulnerable to lightning strikes. Here is an interesting article that describes the threat of lightning strikes particularly to people on the ground at airports.
King, R.E. (September 11, 2024) “Increasing Lightning Strikes from Stronger Storms Could Cripple Airports and Airbases,” Jalopnik, https://jalopnik.com/increasing-lightning-strikes-from-stronger-storms-could-1851645799 [Last accessed: 9/16/2024]
Quoting from the article:
“While flying planes are hardened to withstand lightning strikes, airports are typically a cluster of free-standing structures on a flat, open plot of land. The ongoing increase in lightning strikes caused by climate change is a direct danger to facilities and people on the ground.”
I wonder about similar data or statistics in the Philippines considering the long wet season we have that includes not just threats from typhoons but from seemingly small weather systems that may involve lightning strikes. I recall operations at NAIA were halted a few times when there were lightning storms. Is this phenomena. I wonder how many incidents at our airports have been reported and recorded pertaining to lightning.
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Foggy roads in Tagaytay – Part 1
It’s been a while since the last time I was in Tagaytay. We used to go there at least once a month. Eventually, we grew tired of the traffic and the city becoming quite crowded. Of course, our schedules also became more busy so the drives for a weekend getaway turned into trips for music lessons (for our daughter) and meet-ups with friends. It was a welcome return last July when I had to go to Tagaytay Highlands for a meeting and then join up with our college for a workshop on the other end of the city. Here are some photos of the foggy roads that reminded me of the Tagaytay of old.
More photos of the foggy roads in the next post!
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On transportation and floods
Some people say transport and traffic concerns take a backseat to floods and related concerns, which affect other aspects of our lives aside from our commutes. The heavy rains the past days have rendered many streets impassable to most types of vehicles. That means people cannot go to work, school or come home. Lives are disrupted by floods this way. But even more disruptive and disastrous are the damages brought about by flooding in many communities. Homes are submerged. Properties are damaged, many beyond repair or replacement. There is also the psychological aspect of floods especially for those who will experience them for the first time. These will surely add to the already fragile mental health of people still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As I write, the Marikina River has breached and many areas of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite are flooded. The floods are now being mentioned along with those brought about by Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009.
Here are some photos from the internet being shared by various social media accounts including the official pages of Rappler and Inquirer:
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Back in Tagaytay
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Tagaytay. I think the last time was before the pandemic and with family. There used to be a time when we went there at least every month not counting the seminars and workshops we attended there. It was an easy drive from our home in Antipolo to Tagaytay via C6, SLEX and the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road. We had our favorite stopovers with breakfasts usually at the Paseo de Sta. Rosa. Later, as Tagaytay became more crowded and congested, the trips became fewer. Of course, our schedules also became busier but then it wasn’t like we looked forward to the traffic and the crowded attractions there. I’m doing a project there now with my team at the office and that means I get to go there for work. Since we’ll be there anyway, we could have some side trips to eat some good meals (bulalo!) and maybe take some photos of Taal volcano.
The fog was a quick reminder of the Tagaytay of old that we frequented before. But what we noticed was that it wasn’t cool. It was still somewhat warm if there was no breeze or wind blowing. This was certainly not smog as you can smell the pollution if it was. We even joked that it probably wasn’t because of the volcano as the smell of sulphur would probably be strong. We were in Tagaytay during the weekdays so there were fewer people and traffic. We were told that it was worse on weekends. That was to be expected. And with CALAX, Tagaytay became more accessible to visitors. I will write about the developments there in the next post. I feel there’s just too many buildings and the intense development has made Tagaytay less attractive. I have similar memories and feelings about Baguio but that’s another story to tell or write about.
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Extreme turbulence during air travel
Transport-related news last week included a report about a Singapore Airlines B777 jet flying to London from Singapore that had to make an emergency landing in Bangkok due to extreme turbulence experienced. Many people were seriously injured when the plane suddenly ascended (“tilted up” as some news reports state) and then abruptly descended, resulting in people being tossed up and hitting the compartments above their seats. Obviously, these passengers were not wearing their seatbelts at the time. Otherwise, they would have been restrained to their seats. It is likely that the turbulence was not anticipated by the pilot as they usually advise passengers to put on their seat belts if turbulence was expected at any time during a flight.
The incident raises concerns about extreme and sudden turbulence occurring during flights. I guess this may happen anytime and aircraft instruments may not be able to tell the crew about an impending incident like this. Will such an incident have a significant impact on air travel? Perhaps not if these incidents remain rare. There should be records and monitoring of factors or elements leading to such incidents in order to establish the likelihood of these happening. Incident records will also show if there is an increasing frequency as well as the number of people killed and injured. Such information would be vital as more people use aviation for travel and there are more aircraft activity around the world.
As a precaution, it is good practice not to remove your seatbelt while seated in flight. If it’s tight, then loosen it. At least you have some restraint in case of incidents where the aircraft encounters sudden turbulence.
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Maulan, ma-traffic
I just wanted to share this photo taken a couple of weeks ago when there were a few rainy days. These were not light rains but downpours that caused some flash flooding on streets along my commuting route. The flash floods plus vehicles generally slowing down due to the rains lead to traffic congestion. I thought this was what brought about the saying “maulan, ma-traffic” that translates into “it’s rainy so expect traffic congestion”.
Vehicles caught up in a traffic jam along Ortigas Avenue Extension–
Musings on rainy day commutes
I sympathize with a lot of people whose activities were disrupted by the inclement weather the past days. The rains from the other night and today resulted in floods around Metro Manila and Rizal (where I live). The forecast of more rains during the past days made government suspend classes at all levels for both public and private schools. However, many and particularly students have already traveled to their schools as some announcements came late or not early enough for those who usually leave home early to avoid the usual traffic congestion around schools.
I myself used to leave our home early to go to school. As I took public transportation to the university, I had to leave before 6:00 AM (even earlier if it was raining) to be able to get a jeepney ride and have a comfortable trip (shorter travel time than when I leave later in the morning). I had one transfer at what used to be the K-Mart terminal. Both legs of the trip were via jeepneys. I recall silently cursing the guards at Ateneo for prioritizing what seemed to be an infinite number of cars entering and exiting that university via their Gates 2 and 3. At the time, Ateneo still operated the blue school buses and you can see few students on those buses. I observed already then that most of their students probably had their own vehicles to take them to school. Once past the gauntlet of Ateneo and Miriam (which was Maryknoll before), traffic was smoother. And to think that there was no C.P. Garcia yet and Katipunan at the UP Diliman and MWSS areas was not as wide as it is now. The old Katipunan section was basically a two lane road with UP on one side and MWSS on the other. What is now a center island with large acacia trees used to be the frontage of MWSS. UP’s walls were lined with eateries and small stores catering to students and workers.
My commutes during the wet season can be quite difficult as you can’t simply hang on to the jeepney (at the back) when it’s pouring. And when the weather’s particularly bad, there were flooding along my route, not to mention where I resided. I also remember wading in floodwaters along Katipunan (yes, there were floods along Katipunan before) because the road was impassable to vehicles and the only way to get home was to walk from UP to Aurora Boulevard. Our home in Cainta was often flooded during typhoons, and I also waded in floodwaters along portions of Felix/Imelda Avenue an in our village. The flood experiences probably deserve separate articles here and I will share some stories as soon as I can organize my thoughts and memories of these. Of course, I will relate these to transportation as there were lots I learned from these experiences. The frustration though is that it seems we have yet to do in order to address climate’s and weather’s impacts on transportation.
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Changing for the rains
A common seen these days of the wet season are motorcycle riders stopping to take out their rain gear to wear so they can continue with their travels. I’m not surprised that many if not most already have their rain gear ready if it rained and they needed to use them. Oftentimes, the location would be under any shade or shelter including underneath footbridges, waiting sheds or trees. If there were nowhere to seek shelter, they change right in the open. Following is an example where riders stopped at a parking area of a residential development to don their raincoats and jackets.
In the above example, riders do not impede traffic flow as they change off-street. In other cases though where they congregate under footbridges, they tend to block traffic and cause congestion where there was none. Perhaps there can be more areas or designated locations for changing to rain gear?
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On weird weather’s impact on air travel
With the wet season comes a lot of thunderstorms and there have been increasing occurrences of lighting alerts around Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) that led to the grounding of many planes. That resulted in long delays and surely an inconvenience to a lot of passengers. It looks like ‘weird’ weather or extreme weather events are here to stay and may even become worse as we continue to grapple with climate change and warmer weather. I am sharing a recent article about this here:
Hoover, A. (July 13, 2023) “Weird weather is making air travel even worse,” Wired, https://www.wired.com/story/weird-weather-is-making-air-travel-even-worse/?bxid=5bd6761b3f92a41245dde413&cndid=37243643&esrc=AUTO_OTHER&source=Email_0_EDT_WIR_NEWSLETTER_0_DAILY_ZZ&utm_brand=wired&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_content=WIR_Daily_071323&utm_mailing=WIR_Daily_071323&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl&utm_term=P4 [Last accessed: 7/14/2023]
Quoting from the article:
“But there are more complicated, invisible effects of a warming world too. Hotter air is trapped near the ground, and cooler air above. Shifts in temperature gradients affect the wind shear, or the changes in speed and direction between air near the ground and at higher elevations. These eddies create clear air turbulence, which occurs in the absence of clouds. Light turbulence can cause sudden changes in altitude that feel like bumps, but severe turbulence can cause structural stress to the aircraft.
Turbulence isn’t just unpleasant. It’s the cause of more than one third of injuries aboard air carriers, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board, and in rare instances can even lead to death.
Changing wind patterns may also alter flight lengths. If, for example, there are stronger eastward winds, flights from the US to Europe will speed up, but flights in the other direction may take longer. Transatlantic flights may even need to reroute and refuel.
Research from Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in the UK, found that jet stream changes could increase the amount of time flights are in the sky each day, leading to more fuel burning, higher costs, and more CO2 emissions. Jet streams are high-altitude air currents that drive weather systems. As the Arctic warms, the North Atlantic Jet Stream is changing, leading to more odd weather.
But heat alone can also lead to delays and cancellations, like when a 119-degree day in Phoenix grounded planes in 2017. That’s because high temperatures decrease air density. When the air is less dense, planes need more time and distance to fight gravity as they take off—so they may need a longer runway to become airborne. Not all airports can accommodate these sudden changes.”
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On a canceled trip due to a typhoon
I was supposed to be traveling with my family to Singapore over the Undas long weekend. That did not push through due to the circumstances brought about by Typhoon Paeng. What could have been our daughter’s first travel abroad did not materialize and we were left with sunk costs from the tickets we had already bought online for Universal Studios and the Singapore Zoo. We also had to cancel meet-ups with friends in Singapore.
This Cathay Pacific plane landed safely before noon and later departed for Hong Kong without incident.
An earlier ANA flight arrived and departed without incident. This one arrived mid afternoon but was similarly grounded due to the typhoon.
The airport announced all flights were canceled just before 6:30 PM. This was a late announcement that some airlines were waiting for. Cebu Pacific apparently had advance information as they canceled all their international flights one after the other around 6:00PM (probably to manage the crowds that would file out of the departure area to reclaim their luggage). We were disappointed that Singapore Airlines did not act immediately and decisively on the matter. We were expecting at least an announcement of when we could expect to be on the next flight. For an airline of their stature, I was also expecting that they could have made arrangements for accommodations due to the great inconvenience brought upon passengers. That was the least they could do if they intended to put us in the next available flight (planes were cleared to operate at 10:00PM that night). Apparently, the typhoon (and its implied acts of nature/acts of God aspect) was also a convenient excuse for the airline (and others, too) to practically abandon their passengers. [Note: A pilot friend intimated that these decisions and behavior by airlines are partly due to policies and actions of the previous administration/government of the Philippines where all the blame was put on airlines for cancellations and they were penalized for acting independently or ahead of government announcements.]
Of course, we later received a series of emails from the airline informing us that we were rebooked to flights the following day. I say ‘flights’ here because these the first email informed us of a flight at 10:00AM. A subsequent email then said we were to be in a 12:00 flight. A third then said that we were to be on a 2:00 PM flight. We got to read these emails around 7:00 AM the following day as they were sent overnight when we were already occupied in finding accommodations during inclement weather. Flabbergasted, we decided to request a refund instead of re-booking and rescheduling our trip. It was already difficult to reschedule as there weren’t any weekends long enough remaining this 2022 and this Undas was the ideal time for a getaway. We’ll try again another time.
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Caught (up) in traffic 