This is one of the rare times when we need to welcome a storm.

The tropical cyclone that will enter the country through Mindanao border and set to cross the rugged terrains of Visayas would be the perfect gift to climate experts in the country this Christmas.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the rainfall that would come from a storm is the only way to minimize the effects of the dry spells already being felt in Capiz, Masbate, Northern Samar, and Oriental Mindoro.

“We hope that one more tropical cyclone will enter the Philippine area of responsibility so that it can lessen the drought being experienced in Visayas this month,” Fernando Cada of PAGASA Climatology and Agrometeorology said.

Cada explained that the dry spell in Capiz, Northern Samar, Masbate, and Oriental Mindoro since September has been brought by the moderate El Niño condition that is increasingly persisting in the equatorial Pacific.

He noted that Northern Samar only received half amount of rainfall or 608.5 mm rains out of the 1050.1 mm rainfall the province usually expects to get from September to November during a normal year.

The weather specialist added that Capiz has only received 420.2 mm of rainfall from September to November when it should have gotten 762.3 mm rains during the same period on a normal year without El Niño.

Only 568.4 mm of rains were dumped over Masbate while 540 mm rainfall came down on Oriental Mindoro when the Visayan provinces should have received 720.7 and 788.5 mm of water, respectively, from storms and cyclones that came last September to December, Cada said.

“If a tropical cyclone does not come this month, the dry spell will be aggravated in these areas and probably extend its effects in Mindoro, Eastern and Western Samar, Bukidnon, and Misamis Oriental,” he warned.

Even with the passage of typhoons “Pepeng,” “Quedan,” “Ramil,” “Santi,” “Tino,” and “Urduja” in the last three months, he explained that the tracks concentrated in Luzon, which the weather disturbances followed, brought the lack of rainfall in Visayas and Mindanao provinces this quarter.

Dr. Flaviana Hilario, head of PAGASA Climatology and Agrometeorology Division, expected another tropical cyclone to visit the country this year after the passage of tropical depression “Vinta” during the first week of December.

However, Hilario expressed minimal optimism for a storm to avert dry spell in Visayas, saying that storms that develop in Pacific Ocean tend to dissipate overseas before it reaches the country from December to March.