Samar Weather & Climate

Samar Island traverses two different climate zones. The provinces of Northern Samar and Eastern Samar, as well as the eastern portion of (Western) Samar are classified as having a Type II climate. Wikipedia says the Type II climate has “No dry season with a pronounced rainfall from November to January.” The rest of Samar province has a Type IV climate where “Rainfall is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year.” From my experience, in the western portion of Samar province, the best weather is usually from March through May. In June the heavy rains start and go through August or September. Then it usually tapers off a bit until October or November. From the end of November through February we can get lots of rain again.

The official governmental agency in charge of keeping track of the weather is the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). Click here for the PAGASA Weather Branch Homepage. Below you will find their most recent satellite image:

Most recent satellite image from PAGASA

Currently there are many commercial weather sites available, and most of the bigger ones will show places in Samar. I like the AccuWeather.com weather page for Samar because it shows weather conditions for 20 Samar locations on one page. The one thing I don’t like about AccuWeather is their pop-up ads. Weather Underground does not have a page specifically for Samar, but they do have weather forecast pages for some of the larger areas, including Calbayog, Catbalogan, and Catarman.

Another good source of weather information is the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) Naval Oceanogpraphy Portal. Their site can give you a good idea of what is headed our way, as well as updates on current storms. Here is a link to their most recent satellite image for the Western/South Pacific Ocean.