Seasons in the Philippines
The Philippines has two main seasons; the south-western monsoon (locally known as the Habagat) usually affects the climate from June to October while the north-eastern wind (locally known as Amihan) affects it from October to March. During April and May the weather is relatively calm all with very light winds. The so-called rainy season, starts at the beginning of July and marks the end of the very dry summer months. The rainy season is NOT like the monsoons seen in Singapore; instead the rainy season is marked by only some days with rain. Seldom do we experience days of continuous rain.
Cool season (December to February)
The temperature in the daytime is around 32C / 89F. Temperatures at night time drop to 25C / 77F. There are occasional rain showers. The water is a bit cooler at 26 - 27C / 79F – 81F. Some days in January can be cooler and windy as the area can be affected by the winter weather coming down from mainland China.
Hot and dry summer season (March to May)
The temperature in the daytime is about 32C / 89F. It does not cool off very much in the evening. The water is only a bit cooler, 27 - 29C / 81F – 84F. It rains very seldom, sometimes not for weeks. These months are usually the most settled with seas like a mill pond; crystal clear water.
Rainy season (June to November)
The temperature in the daytime is about 31C / 87F. The Visayas does not have a pronounced rainy season. Usually the showers are just scattered and light; it is very rare to get a day of continuous rain. The water temperature is 27 - 29C / 81F – 84F.
Typhoons (September to December)
Between September and December the Philippines are usually hit by typhoons. These typhoons follow a regular path from the east to north east of the Philippines i.e. they come in over the islands of Samar and move across Luzon (usually affecting Manila ) and then out to sea and on to Vietnam, China , Hong Kong or Japan . Cebu City and south thereof is below the “typhoon belt” which starts at 10 degrees latitude.
Moalboal only gets the side-effects of the typhoons that sweep across the northern part of the Philippines – such as a change in wind direction and rain for a couple of days.
DIVING AROUND MOALBOAL
Diving in Cebu is usually good all year round. The visibility is not much affected by the seasons, ranging anywhere between 10m on a bad day to more than 35m on good days. One reason for consistent good visibility is that there are no large rivers running into the Tanon Straits in the area and so there is no land wash-off.