Since it’s typhoon season in the Philippines once again, I am posting below the map of the so-called “Philippine Area of Responsibility,” or PAR for short. This is for the information of new Forum members and for a better public understanding of what this weather reporting term means.
The PAR isn’t meant to define the internationally recognized territory of the Philippines and nor is it a measure of its land mass or what is referred to as “Philippine soil.” It is that designated part of the world map “bounded by rhumb lines on the Philippine Tropical Cyclone Tracking Chart/Map or imaginary lines on the surface of the earth that makes equal oblique angles with all meridians joining the following points: 25°N 120°E, 25°N 135°E, 5°N 135°E, 5°N 115°E, 15°N 115°E, 21°N 120°E and back to the beginning.”
The initials N and E refer to the compass directions “north” and “east,” the superscript “o” after the numbers stands for “degrees of the Earth’s arc,” and the term “rhumb lines” means “any of the points of the mariner’s compass.”
Within the PAR, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)—the country’s weather bureau—is mandated to monitor tropical cyclone activity and to make the necessary warnings. It has to issue bulletins every six hours for all tropical cyclones within this area that have made or are anticipated to make landfall within the Philippines, or every 12 hours when cyclones are not affecting land.
