Tag Archive for Weather

Boracay Holiday vs. Typhoon Haiyan – Typhoon Won :(

8 November 2013 Holiday No comments

Earlier this year, a group of us from work (and an ex-colleague) decided to go to Boracay in the Philippines – what is known to be a magical island towards the centre of the country, north of Palay Island.

We were all looking forward to it, as the months and weeks counted down. A couple of weeks per, we heard of a depression that was forming towards the east seas of the Philippines, when it turned into a Typhoon. As it formed and approached the Philippines and it’s many islands on the east side, it gained in strength, we knew it would be close to the Philippines when we were scheduled to leave for holiday, and then we noted on the reports that it was actually going to go across a wide span of the centre belt, and looking at the planned route, it looked like it was going to hit just south of Boracay island. Then our holiday came within a couple of days, and then we looked at the timing of when the Typhoon was about to hit, and you guessed it, on the actual day we were scheduled to leave, it was scheduled to hit Palay Island and Boracay. In fact, our flight was arriving on Friday, 8th November at 3pm local time, at the exact hour when it was meant to be at its fiercest.

What annoyed me most is that Tiger Airlines made no attempt to contact it’s many passengers who were affected but this human nature disaster, we only heard word of move and it was only when someone referenced us to the Tiger Airlines Philippines Facebook page, did we get the full score. Their Communicates and Operations Director basically stated that all flights on Friday 8th had been cancelled to the central Philippines, including ours to Kalibo airport. Luckily, we didn’t just risk going to Singapore airport to find it out there, rather we slept on it, and decided to go back to work – I know get the small violin out, but I think it was the right cause of action to cancel the flight and holiday, noting how fierce this Typhoon ended up being. The last thing we want is to be in the middle of a massive natural disaster.

My hearts and thoughts remain to the Philippines and the Filipinos impacted by this event, as looking at the news, it really was very bad indeed!

Life is more important, and there is always the possibility to re-schedule a holiday, that can’t be said for replacing a life.

Singapore Smog and Haze – Dreadful

23 June 2013 Apartment, Exercise No comments

I had previously wondered why there was this burning smell and hazy feel about the place – for the past few weeks, but I didn’t think that much of it.  I knew that the summer heat and the Indonesian fires annually create a risk of haze floating across the Singaporean island, but this year it seemed to have been really bad.

At the beginning of June, the 24 hour PSI rating reached a range of 18-46 – which was healthy and relatively low – this was the normal rating that we would expect to see.  Since 13th June, the haziness and smog clouds started to come across and it got progressively worse each day until earlier last week when it went from “very unhealthy” (200+ PSI), to “hazardous” (300+), it even went past the magic 400 PSI market – which is “very hazardous” during a couple of occassions.  The previous worst smog reading was 226 PSI in 1997.

The worse thing is that we are helpless – we have to breathe, we have to go to work, we have to live – and unfortunately, we have succumbed to someone elses selfiness acts and performance.

Me and My N95 Mask

Me and My N95 Mask

In fact, it appears that all of the fires were manmade, including clearing forests and peat-land to create Palm Oil agricultural farmland.  The irony is that a number of the big customers and ‘land owners’ are from companies who have HQs in Singapore.  I guess, these are the ones to blame, but lets see what happens.

With all this talk about global warming, and environmental damage, I am amazed that our Indonesian friends are still have to get away with clearing land with this very poor and old agricultural technique!  It should be banned, they should be fined and they should be monitored to avoid it happening – it’s happening every year – so really makes me question, whether it is worth being in Singapore when my health is at risk!  Well I am stuck at the moment, so I just have to live and bear it…and hope it doesn’t cause long-lasting damage to my health!

Latest haze forecast are pictured here (live forecast – so will regularly update on this page).

Next 24 Hour Forecast
Source: NEA

 

© 2012-2026 Aaron Brigatti - Brigatti Online   ® All Rights Reserved.