Snow in the Philippines? Can it happen?

[CavLancer]

So you are saying what Arwon? You can't be saying the cold in NY can't get to the Philipiines, can you?

 

[Arwon]

Record cold winters in North America have a specific climate change related influence that is unlikely to exist in Davao.

 

[classical_hero]

There was some snow in El Salvador. Considering thy are just north of the equator, even with high mountains this is quite rare. http://iceagenow.info/snowfall-on-border-between-el-salvador-and-honduras/

 

[CavLancer]

There was some snow in El Salvador. Considering thy are just north of the equator, even with high mountains this is quite rare. http://iceagenow.info/snowfall-on-border-between-el-salvador-and-honduras/

Arwon, considering what classical_hero just said, and the snow in Vietnam etc, do you still consider snow in the Philippines to be impossible? I'd say its becoming much more possible. Just because something never happened in recorded history doesn't seem to slow it down much these days.

 

[Arwon]

El Pital is a bit further north and its minimums are a few degrees colder than Mt Apo. Like the difference between "smattering of snow every few years" and "absolutely none" isn't that wide. For snow to fall you need temperatures below zero with enough moisture. We only get snow every couple of years here because while it gets below zero a lot, that mostly only happens when there's no cloud cover keeping heat in.

I'm sure it's not impossible as a consequence of global warming that there might be a slushy sprinkle on Apo one day if there hasn't already, because getting near freezing is obviously close, but the southern Philippines is well removed from what's been going on in the Arctic and North America. Record low temperatures in one region against the backdrop of changes to air flows from the Arctic doesn't mean there'll be record lows elsewhere. This is a weird thing for you to be invested in. Like, I just pointed out what the temperatures are at Mt Apo. You could have googled that yourself.

 

[Cutlass]

Arwon, considering what classical_hero just said, and the snow in Vietnam etc, do you still consider snow in the Philippines to be impossible? I'd say its becoming much more possible. Just because something never happened in recorded history doesn't seem to slow it down much these days.

Another factor in play is that the Philippines are islands, and surrounded by tropical oceans. When weather fronts move over oceans they warm or cool based on whether the ocean is warm or cold. This is why the British Islands see little snow, despite the fact that London is further north than Winnipeg in Canada. Prevailing air currents bring British weather from over the Atlantic, where ocean currents keep even mid winter surface water temps higher than than the land at mid continent. For the same reason, Vancouver has the nicest weather in Canada, because it gets warmed by the Pacific. In the Philippines any cold air weather system has to travel over some very warm water to get there. And will be warmed in the process. It's not exclusively about how far north or south you are, or the altitude.