ONCE known only to physicists and weather forecasters, Fujiwara Effect became familiar to Bicolanos after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) had confirmed that the ‘effect’ caused erstwhile Bicol-bound storms ‘Mina’ and ‘Lando’ to skirt the region.

        Last week, Typhoon Mitag, locally known as ‘Mina’ moved in the general direction of Bicol and prompted massive evacuation across the region.

        But while approaching the eastern coast of Bicol, the storm stalled off Catanduanes province and changed direction—sparing residents along the eastern seaboard of the region.

        The weather bureau said ‘Mina’ changed course after interacting with Typhoon Hagibis, locally known as ‘Lando’, which was then less than 1500 kilometers away in the South China Sea towards Vietnam, through what they call as Fujiwara Effect.

        As then Typhoon ‘Lando’ stalled in the South China Sea, ‘Mina’ also stalled off the coast of Bicol, and when ‘Lando’ was pushed eastward by a strong high pressure area south of the Philippines, ‘Mina’ was pushed to the northwest—saving Bicol from its 200 kilometer per hour winds.

        As ‘Mina’ raced northwesterly, then Tropical Storm ‘Lando’ recurved back to the country but was weakened and affected Bicol only as a tropical depression.

        Fujiwara Effect happens when two nearby tropical cyclones attract and follow each other.

        It was named after Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwara, a former head of the Central Meteorological Bureau in Japan, who first described the behavior in 1921 after studying the movement of small whirlpools in water.

        Later, the term was used by weather forecasters in describing the behaviors of atmospheric storms.

        Every year, there are storms in the Pacific Ocean close to the Philippines that exhibits Fujiwara Effect but these rarely affect the country.