23 - B Dickerson: Baguio Plateau 443 



meters (4,000 to 7,000 feet) above sea level with deep 300- to 

 900-meter valleys between. Why, then, this great acceleration 

 of geologic processes? Let us examine in detail the climate of 

 this region. 



CLIMATE OF BAGUIO PLATEAU 



■ Baguio takes its name from the Spanish word for typhoon, 

 "baguio," and deservedly so, considering the climate of this 

 region. The excellent works of the Philippine Weather Bureau 

 describe Baguio climate very well. Father Jose Coronas, chief 

 of the meteorologic division of the Weather Bureau, 11 furnishes 

 contrasting data between Baguio and other stations, as follows: 



Baguio, mean annual minimum 8.8 



Manila, 



Baguio, annual 

 Manila, annual 1 

 Bagnio, mean annual 1 

 Manila, mean annual maximum 39.3 



On page 337, Coronas summarizes these conditions as follows : 



1. The mean annual temperature of Baguio, 17.9° C, differs from that 

 of Manila by -8.5° C. The differences of the monthly means vary from 

 -7.5° C. in December to —9.3° C. in May. 



2. The mean annual range of temperature, that is, the difference between 



on the sea level. 



3. The lowest air temperature in 16 years has been 3° C. The mean 

 of the annual minimum temperatures, however, is 7.4° C. for the first 

 period of observations, and 9.9° C. for the second period. In our Tem- 

 perature Map the mean of the two periods is given. The absolute minimum 



C. was recorded in January, 1907, which was an extraordinarily cold 

 year for Baguio. 



4. Speaking in general, we may say of the temperature of Baguio 

 that it is about 8 or 9 degrees lower than that of the other stations 

 of Luzon on the sea level, but otherwise it follows the laws of a charac- 

 teristically tropical climate as to the diurnal, monthly, and annual range, 

 as to the warmest and coldest months of the year and the warmest and 

 coldest hours of the day, etc., etc. 



Before finishing this chapter, the attention of our readers should be 

 called to a fact which may help to have a better knowledge of the climate 

 of Baguio and may be of special value to agriculture. We had heard 

 at times that real frost was observed and even a thin crust of ice 

 formed in little pools at the foot of Mount Mirador, even when the air 

 temperature both on the top of Mirador and in another station on a 

 plateau near the City Hall was several degrees above the freezing point. 



The climate and weather of the Philippines, 1903-1918, The Philippine 

 " - (1920). In the temperature map, facing page 352. 



Census 1 



