The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration Sunday said it still doesn't see enough rain in the horizon this week to ease the drought being experienced in the country, particularly in Luzon.

Connie Rose Dadivas, weather forecaster at the state weather office, said that in Luzon, only passing rains are expected this week because of the weakening northeast monsoon or amihan.

She said good weather or cloudy to partly cloudy weather is expected in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon where major dams are nearing critical levels due to the absence of significant rainfall since December.

In the Visayas and Mindanao, a low pressure area 180 kilometers east of Hinatuan City in Surigao Del Sur as of 11 a.m. Sunday was dumping frequent rains but was also expected to dissipate, according to Dadivas.

“Humihina. Halos matutunaw na,” Dadivas told the Manila Bulletin over the phone as she ruled out the possibility of the rain-inducing weather system developing into a storm.

Wind convergence is also helping cause rains in Central Visayas, eastern Visayas and northern and eastern Mindanao, she said.

PAGASA said it expects one storm to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility this month but Dadivas said forecast models showed no storm would form this week over the archipelago.

PAGASA earlier warned that the current El Niño episode continues to persist across the equatorial Pacific Ocean and had reached moderate strength.

“Leading climate models suggest tropical ocean temperatures are approaching their peak and will remain above El Niño thresholds through March 2010. It will likely influence the country’s climate through the first half of the year,” she said.

PAGASA observed that rainfall condition for the month of December was unusually way below normal in most areas of Luzon.

Meanwhile, Metro Manila and Baguio have gotten warmer over the weekend because cloudiness has been pulled by the LPA towards Visayas and Mindanao, Dadivas said.

Less clouds means less obstruction to the heat of the sun, Dadivas said.

Meanwhile, Senator Loren Legarda warned that while the country may be blessed with abundant water, the government must exhaust measures to avert a possible water crisis as the El Niño phenomenon starts to make its presence felt.

Legarda warned that water stress – amplified by climate change, will create a growing security challenge.

"The changing climate which results to longer droughts will adversely affect the country’s watersheds and the population of around 24 million, the forests and their biodiversity, as well as 1.5 million hectares of agricultural land dependent on these areas for irrigation water,” she said.