It's been a standing joke. For as long as I can remember, it has been known that when government agencies declare no classes, the rain suddenly stops. The Weather becomes more bearable.
Case in point: Today's declaration of NO CLASSES
When it was declared this morning, I felt that it was a bit late. Well, maybe because no one expected it. No one expected it but when the message made it's round - well, it was a bit too late. I received messages on my phone at 5:15am, I usually wake up at 5:30 to get ready. Since my phone is on silent mode at night and it didn't seem to me that weather was that bad (well, it's been raining for the past few days) I didn't feel the need to check my phone. I just noticed that my Viber has about 50+ messages. I immediately woke up and tapped on it. And true enough, classes were suspended by the Mayor.
Connor had already been up, dressed for school and was at the dining table having breakfast. Kailee was still asleep but was going to be woken up next. I then told Yaya that there was no classes. I heard Connor say *Hala* and I honestly didn't know why. Yaya said it was because, he was already dressed up and ready for school. I checked on the kids after a while and was surprised to see Connor in bed - ASLEEP! Hahahaha.. I on the other hand wanted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't anymore.
My friend A asked why we didn't have classes, I said it was declared by the mayor. She replied with *It'll be sunny later*. Well, it didn't get sunny - but the rain stopped and it was cloudy. My Panget would always say - consult Accuweather.com for forecasts - they're quite accurate he says. He's baffled why government officials don't check accuweather.com for weather forecasts.
I remember someone asking me to check PAGASA's weather forecast - so I went to the website but was mildly confused. It wasn't very informative - it was very generic. I get more detailed forecasts when I check my iPhone's weather app. There is no hourly forecast - just a generic one. See below:
This makes me wonder. Is the one in charge just like me? Unimaginative? I don't know - but I'm sure a weather expert would be able to give more details on the weather right? Or was it the fault of the encoder? I am really baffled and sad at the same time.
But that's life - well in the Philippines. The weather forecast of local experts are most of the time, incorrect. In the past years, I felt that there was an improvement - especially with Project NOAH, but it was scrapped during this administration, right? So we're back to the PAGASA website that doesn't look very enticing to navigate.
It's quite sad that the state of weather forecasting has not improved since I was in school. Declarations from mayors meant that the weather will not be bad and instead be good. It's a long standing joke that I hoped would be changed through the years - sadly, it didn't.
So to everyone at home - enjoy the VERY long weekend.
