Friday, November 19, 2010

Skywatch Friday: 19 November 2010: Philippines Skies

The Philippines has only two seasons, as in 2!!! We are  an archipelago of 1,107 islands, a little bit north of the Equator and the country has 4 major climates, but the seasons are just really 2: the dry and the wet. Dry months are mostly from January to May, while rainy months are normally June to Dec. There are variations of plus/minus 1-2 months, especially with the climate change. There are some areas/regions with longer dry months while some jokingly say that their climate is wet and very wet. But that doesn't change the 2 seasons.  Autumn and Winter are aliens to us.

The skies i am showing here are mostly just before and during the rainy season, which shows more dramatic cloud formation. In contrast, dry season shows mostly clear skies with occasional  white-cottony cumulus clouds, except when it is about to end.

 early morning from Metro Mania via the North Luzon Expressway to Nueva Ecija

 Mt Arayat, Pampanga at the background

 these areas have previously been lahar laden from Mt Pinatubo eruption,
it is now overwhelmingly colonized by these profusely flowering grasses

 A normal sunset view in Mabini, Batangas, Philippines
after a long dry season, this signals the incoming rainy season. There are also deciduous trees in dry climates, but the Autumn colors do not show in these trees, leaves just wilt and fall

bluish haze from the setting sun: Mabini, Batangas

dry season sunrise view in Mabini, Batangas

dry season sunset view at Mt Gulugod Baboy, Mabini, Batangas


a dramatic sky before an impending rain versus a bright blue summer sky of a long dry season

For my friends at the other side of the world, and also those who are near the poles like the Scandinavian countries and Alaska, how do you imagine uprooting yourselves from your country of birth and living in a very different environment and seasons?

Please visit other  Skywatch Friday posts around the world.

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36 comments:

  1. I didn't know that... I knew you didn't have a winter, but fall is so pretty... However the photos you have are what we dream about when we are buried in snow....Michelle

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  2. Wow! Love shots!!!!

    Thanks for the visit!

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  3. I love reading about your part of the world Andrea and your photos are gorgeous!! Beautiful skies! When winter lingers for too long I will be wishing we had only three seasons. ;>)

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  4. its been raining almost everyday and often the sun comes out only for a short period.
    What a cold & flu moment in my region.. achuuu... (excuse me..)

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  5. I always like the tropics. Hopefully there is no need to uproot. It's quite heavenly already. :) Wrt your comment in the Cat post, I prefer animal photos more than garden photos.

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  6. Lovely sky photos. Sometimes in Niagara Falls it feels like two seasons. Some years we seem to skip spring and go right to summer. Other years the weather turns and fall is so short. Winter seems like it lasts 7 months sometimes. I would miss winter if we did not have it though.

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  7. Hi Andrea - you always seem to have such beautiful skies. I really like the slight rainbow hues in the first few photos.

    BTW thankyou so much for the fave - you joined Blotanical at last! :) I need to login in and return the lovely compliment.

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  8. These are splendid shots of the skies in your country. Very beautifully done, especially those with the trees as silhouette. I hope you will do skywatch every Friday!

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  9. What fantastic collection for SWF! I would only miss skiing, but I can do without winter :)
    SkyWatch

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  10. I lived abroad in a sub tropical climate and I really missed the change of seasons. There were a few changes but they seemed nothing compared to the changes in the Northern hemisphere.
    Your photos are wonderful and I like the differences you show between the two seasons. The skies are wonderful.

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  11. gorgeous shots you got! i wish we have autumn because it's beautiful.:p

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  12. Hello Andrea and thank you for stopping by my blog !
    Your sky pictures are beautiful especially the sunset and sunrise .. very dramatic !
    I can't imagine not having 4 seasons .. I am a very stuck in the rut Canadian eh ! haha .. have to have all my seasons or I would be mixed up? .. LOL
    Very nice blog : )
    Joy

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  13. Wow i am so elated by your visits and appreciation.

    Michelle~~it is Autumn which we are really not privileged having. So in winter you just come by my blog and i will show you some warmth.

    Mylene and Chubskulit ~~ i hope you always drop by even if its not Skywatch Friday!

    Carol~~maybe it is a good idea that during winter you come here with us in the tropics for some warmth and some change of perspectives, what do you say?

    James~~you take care, rainy season brings a lot of health problems for us, we are not getting younger!

    One~~i also love the tropics, and even with opportunities to live abroad in the past, i did not take it. I love our country, our biodiversity, our seasons, our people and our culture. Some travels to their places are enough for me.

    gardenwalkgardentalk~~i think each one of us prefer the seasons and conditions we have been accustomed to since birth. But we also love to experience differences once in a while, so we love travelling and experiencing new places and conditions. You might want to experience what we have here, i invite you.

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  14. Rosie of leavesnbloom~~yes we normally have lovely skies, except when it is raining or when there are typhoons, which are often during rainy seasons.

    Autumn Belle~~thanks for liking my photos, i hope i am improving also with my photos, just like you. Yes if there are many visitors always for Skywatch Friday, then i will always be posting. I will not run out of sky photos. hehe!

    Mar~~this is your first visit here, thank you. Many people from temperate climates leave for a while during winter, it is good that most of them have money to spend in warmer climes.

    Josie~~thanks also for dropping by here. I am sure you will miss the seasons if you are accustomed to that. I haven't seen autumn and i already missed it all my life.

    Luna Miranda~~yes, autumn is the only season i like, winter i dont. But i enjoy your rooftop sunsets.

    AaronVFT~~you don't expose newly planted seedlings to direct raindrops, it will die from the impact or melt.

    Joy~~i am sure you will be sweating too much if you will stay here in our tropics, hot and humid! And we will freeze in your winter in return. Thanks also for dropping by.

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  15. Lovely sky pictures Andrea! I like that big picture of the dry season sunset view at Mt Gulugod Baboy ;-) I hope it is not raining that much now. Have a great weekend!

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  16. Beautiful pics!
    I know what you mean, back at my country we had a very tinny change of climate. More than having a determinate season we had cold days or rainy days. Our summer starts in May and ends in October, some rains in August, mid temperature from November to April, some cold days in January or early Feb. But, is never strange to have hot summerlike days in winter or any time too.

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  17. Beautiful shots, Andrea! Love those sky colors! You live in such a wondrous place. Oh, how I would love to visit that paradise some day! Your dry/wet seasons run the same time as ours here in peninsular Florida, though we do get a little cooler weather in our winter, with threats of frost looming. When I was a girl, the natural world was very confusing, because the "Yankee" teachers would talk of these seasons, and I had never seen fall's changing leaves or winter's snow or April rains. Nor had most of my classmates.

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  18. salamat sa pagbisita.

    what lovely shots you took. i am glad you're sharing the beautiful philippine sky and sunset with the rest of the skywatching community. my entry is over at my other blog, if you click the link below.

    have a lovely weekend.

    Ewok

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  19. You've captured some great colour in your photos! I didn't know you had only two seasons, dry and wet. Thank you for sharing a bit of your world.

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  20. These are simply magnificent, all of them. Wow! The colors in that first one particularly run the gamut of the rainbow in hues. All so artistic and just breathtaking.

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  21. Well, my story goes a little different, tongue firmly in cheek. I tell my friends overseas that the Philippines too has four seasons: hot, hotter, hottest and wet! :-D To answer your question, to come here to the Philippines 20 years ago, I did not have to uproot myself because I was never rooted. I've lived in Scandinavia and Canada with cold winters and I am very happy to be here in the tropical climate. Fortunately I do travel extensively and that is why you happen to hit me in other countries on your visits to my blog.

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  22. Maybe you're lucky to have only two seasons, but I would prefer spring and autumn if I could only have two. Winter is too cold here, and summer is too hot for me.
    Your Skywatch photos are beautiful. Thank you for sharing them with us.
    Thank you also for visiting my blog and commenting. Visitors are always welcome, especially those who take the time to comment. I appreciate it.
    -- K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  23. Very nice photos Andrea! I enjoy the pictures of the fall colors and early frost but I think that you are right saying we usually prefer that to which we are accustomed.

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  24. Hi, this pictures are really gorgeous. colors and lights are very pleasant.. i liked..

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  25. aloha andrea,

    love seeing all the different views from the various locations..yes at this time of the year when its winter in alot of places, the warm weather is truly a blessing...love all the views

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  26. I am really so grateful of all your visits and comments, and they are not just comments but full of information about their feelings for their seasons and how they view mine. I really hope with this little sharing i was able to inform you about our country and the beauty we have here. Thank you very much.

    Steph~~that is my favorite too, but i am sure you have all these also in Malaysia, we dont differ very much.

    Fer~~What do you say if we exchange homes so we can experience other seasons we dont have at home?

    Floridagir~~that was my experience too because our books (which are mostly USA made), also say that. So since young i alwys fancy autumn which until now i haven't experienced or seen in person. I still wonder also why my few travels abroad coincide with spring, i wish to see autumn before i die. haha!

    Photo Cache~~ thanks for your kind words, i know from your photos you are a very good photographer, maybe you are professional. I actually already saw many of your shots.

    Shirly~~one of my purposes for posting that is actually to inform many of those in the other side of the world, and because most of the bloggers are from temperate countries, who like you might not possibly know of our wide differences.

    Poetic Shutterbug~~you are a photographer, so those very kind words for my photos mean a lot to me. Thank you very much.

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  27. Francisca~~hahaha, actually those 4 seasons are also one of our jokes, indeed yes. I really wonder why of all places you can stay here that long, and you seem to be liking the place. Maybe you like the people here, because many sincerely love you here! Am i right. We are really a warm and concerned people, effect of our 3 hot seasons, LOL. I have already read your profile statements and many of your posts in many other countries, and what i feel is envy, strong envy why i didn't have that privilege as yours. When i was young i envisioned to be a wife of a photojournalist so i can roam the world by tagging with him. However, it did not happen. Lucky you for being a citizen of the world.

    Kay~~if i will be asked to choose those wonderful seasons, spring and autumn, will also be my choices, no more dry and wet! LOL.

    Bom~~i am glad some of my visitors are my Kababayan, even if a few are already living abroad, while Francisca is a foreigner living here. Thanks for being helpful also.

    Dejemonos sorprender~~this is your first visit in my blog, thank you for your kind words, and i hope you come again.

    Noel~~ yes i love very much also the different views from different locations, though i didn't have someone from the North Pole like Sweden or Alaska or Norway. I am not sure if you were born here, but i know you can relate to my post more than the rest of them. Thank you.

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  28. YOur photos are so nice! I really enjoy them

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  29. So great photos!
    I like living in Denmark with its 4 seasons; but summer can be to hot for me, so Philippines which is a lot more warm, I only enjoy by photos :-D

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  30. been saying this. i always think that sunset and sunrise are the best god given treasure to man kind. it lasted for few minutes and yet take take out breath away. nice pics!

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  31. I love your sunset shots. California also has only 2 seasons, Dry and wet. They occur at a different time to yours.

    The pictures are beautiful - thanks for sharing.

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  32. I enjoyed looking at your photographs of the Philippine Skies. Your last statement caught my attention. You wrote "how do you imagine uprooting yourselves from your country of birth and living in a very different environment and seasons". This is exactly what my husband's brother and our sister-in-law did. They left the state of Virginia and moved to Hawaii. They love it in Hawaii!

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  33. I like all these photos but the colours in the first photo are stunning!

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  34. Wow, those skies are beautiful - and even more interesting with your explanation of your seasons. I love that one at the bag - you can't tell where the water ends and the sky begins.

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  35. Ewa~~thank you, at least i have given you some contrast with your cold and very cold climate. I hope your first visit merits a second.

    Anjoe playhouse~~i've been to Denmark and i thought the weather always seem gloomy despite the sun above, hehe. Yes i am sure your biorhythm will have difficulties in the hotter climates, just woder which is easier: cold to warm or warm to cold.

    Lily Riani~~yes you are right, sunrise and sunsets awe everybody regardless of birthplace, race, gender, financial status, etc. thanks for your visit.

    Byddi~~maybe you can tell by your experience which is easier: cold to warm or warm to cold. I remember you're from cold part of Europe, is it Ireland?

    Linda~~thank you. I am sure your relatives love it there in Hawaii, but climate there is not as hot as the Philippines, also it is not very humid there. I love Hawaii too, maybe that's why many Filipinos migrate there.

    EG Wow~~in the first photo i unintentionally used a filter, the tint of the car which worked as a filter, haha!

    Wendy~~the horizon cuts here in our country seem to be unclear most of the time, which i think is very different when i went to Europe. Even while in the plane the delineation there is so clear, here it is the opposite. I dont know the explanation for that.

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