🇵🇭Philippines

The Philippines, an archipelago of over 7,600 islands with more than 36,000 kilometers of coastline, sits squarely in the Pacific typhoon belt and atop the Pacific Ring of Fire. This tropical maritime nation sees approximately 20 tropical cyclones enter its area of responsibility each year, several of them making landfall.

The country's geographic exposure, combined with widespread deforestation (70% forest loss since 1900) and accelerating climate change, has intensified the frequency and severity of extreme weather disasters. Mean temperatures have risen 0.65°C between 1951 and 2010, while sea levels along Philippine coasts have increased 7 to 10 centimeters per decade, three times faster than the global average. Rising seas compound the threat to low-lying coastal communities, particularly in Metro Manila, where land subsidence exacerbates flood risk.

Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in November 2013 remains the deadliest typhoon in modern Philippine history, killing over 6,300 people, primarily from storm surges that struck Tacloban and surrounding areas in the Visayas. Typhoon Rai (Odette) in December 2021 became the second-costliest typhoon in Philippine history, claiming 410 lives and causing nearly US$1 billion in damage across Visayas and Mindanao.

Other significant events include Typhoon Goni (Rolly) in 2020, whose landfall was the strongest ever recorded globally in terms of sustained winds (315 km/h), Typhoon Bopha (Pablo) in 2012 with over 1,000 deaths in Mindanao, and the July 2024 Typhoon Gaemi (Carina), which enhanced the southwest monsoon and triggered widespread flooding across Metro Manila and Luzon affecting nearly 6.5 million people. Marine ecosystems in the biodiverse Coral Triangle face growing stress from warming ocean temperatures and acidification.

Our archive covers 149 Philippine cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Santiago, with average highs around 33.3°C, while Baguio has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 13.7°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.4°C.