New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-14
4 DEUCE IN THE PHILIPPINES.


For the remarkable downpour In the vicinity
Of Manila. which is said 10 have caused the loss
of two hundred lives and damage to property
to the extent Of 100000 it will be hard TO
find n precedent. In report on the china te
OF the Philippines, recently issued by the De-
partment Of Commerce and Labor, and covering
nearly forty years. the heaviest precipitation for
II single day at Manila is put at 1914 inches
This occurred on September a. 1867. Accord
ing toethe cable dispatches the recent rainfall
amounted to II 10 inches in twenty hours
Assuming that the rate uniform, there must
lave been more than l. inches in twenty four
hours.
Two classes Of disturbance appear to have
united in producing the result, although only
one is specifically mentioned. 4 cloudburSt,
like thunderstorm, is short lived and affects
only a limited region. but the amount of rain
which attends it is extraordinary. two or three
inches sometimes falling i'm only few minutes
The rest Of the precipitation on the present oc-
casion came from n general storm, doubtless
affecting the whole archipelago and perhaps an
even wider area. Inasmuch as the dispatches
do not refer to the prevalence of high gales
perhaps it is hardly safe TO assume that this
storm was true typhoon, or, at least. that the
centre OF II closely approached Manila. How
ever, in the Orient, as in the West Indies. the
season for tropical cyclones has arrived More
over, in both regions they are characterized by
slOwness of movement and by torrents of rain
Il would not be surprising, therefore, IL the
chief contribution to the deluge from which San
Juan del Monte has suffered had been made by
ali imperfectly developed typhoon
The Philippines are situated favorably for
frequent and heavy wettlngs from the skies
Manila is closer TO the equator than Havana or
even any part OF Jamaica 1t Hes several miles
south of the fifteenth parallel of north latitude
and is almost exactly on a line with Fort de
france, in the island Of Martinique. The com
EinatiOn Of tropical heat and marine environ
nent gives to the atmosphere over those islands
an abundance Of moisture. The capacity of air
to hold water vapor in suspension increases with
heat, and when condensation SQueezes the water
ont the precipitation is correspondence large
On an average. Manila gets II inches of rain
year, or nearly 20 per cent more than New-York
City. Everything considered, this is a rather
modest allowance.
a much greater varia biity In the rainfall from
year to year is observed in the Philippines than
IN many other localities. The smallest total at
Manila for nearly forty years was that of 1884
when only SO inches were recorded and the
maximum amount in twelve months during
1860 was about 11S inches How wide these
departures from the normal are will be better
appreciated when another comparison is made
C61.73 inches in 1880 nor the highest 1884 In
1850 involves departure OF % per cent from
the average of thirty-fOur years, which is about
40 inches The lack of uniformity in the
Philippines is attributable TO several causes. no
doubt. but one Of the most potent is the differ
ence In the number and the routes OF the
tIphoons. Sometimes the latter swing we'll 70
the northWard as they come in from the Pa
cifc and affect Japan instead of the islands
nearer to the equator Sometimes they recurve
to the northeastward without coming near either
the Philippines or Japan Again, they occa-
sionally sweep straight across Luzon into the
China Sea- How important is the part which
these storms play can be easily inferred from
TWO facts More than one-half of the average
rainfall for the year at Manila occurs in the
three months when typhoons are most common
July, August and September-and the biggest
record for single month there fabout ssh
tnches) was made in September 1867