Long before satellite images, numerical weather models, and alerts delivered through mobile phones, how did scientists in the Philippines observe typhoons, warn ships, and build knowledge about the weather?
In this episode of the Behind the Science Podcast, host Paul Caesar Flores speaks with historian Dr. Kerby C. Alvarez, Associate Professor at the UP Diliman Department of History, about the beginnings of institutional meteorology in the Philippines. Alvarez discusses his paper, “Scientific Textualizations of Tropical Cyclones in the Philippines: The Scientific Activities of the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila and Philippine Weather Bureau, 1860s–1940s,” published in History of Meteorology.
Dr. Alvarez’s path to history began with an early interest in the Philippine Revolution and independence, strengthened by the centennial commemorations of the late 1990s. He initially entered UP Diliman as a metallurgical engineering student but later shifted to history. His research now brings together the training he received in science and his work as a historian, particularly in environmental history and the history of hazards and disasters.
His interest in the subject also has a personal dimension. While writing his undergraduate thesis during Tropical Storm Ondoy in 2009, floodwaters entered his family’s home in Malabon. Dr. Alvarez recalled spending the night protecting the central processing unit of his desktop computer because it contained his research data. The experience further encouraged him to study environmental history, disasters, and the scientific institutions that documented them.
The featured paper examines how the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila and the Philippine Weather Bureau produced and circulated scientific knowledge about tropical cyclones. “Scientific textualizations,” in this context, included collecting local weather observations, constructing data banks, publishing reports and studies, developing instruments, and participating in regional scientific partnerships. The study places these activities within the wider political, economic, and colonial history of the Philippines.
Institutional weather observation began in 1865 through a small facility at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. After Jesuit scientists studied a typhoon and published their findings, merchants and seafarers recognized the practical value of weather information. Businesses helped finance better instruments and the expansion of the observatory because timely forecasts and typhoon warnings could reduce losses in shipping and trade. In 1884, a royal decree designated the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila as the official meteorological service of the Philippine colony.
Under American colonial administration, the institution was reorganized in 1901 as the Philippine Weather Bureau. Its network of stations expanded beyond Manila and Luzon to other parts of the archipelago, giving its scientific work a broader national scope. This institutional development forms part of the historical lineage that eventually led to the country’s present weather service, DOST-PAGASA.
The Manila observatory was also part of an emerging network of weather institutions across the western Pacific. Telegraph connections allowed Manila to exchange observations and typhoon warnings with Hong Kong and other centers. Cooperation, however, sometimes became competition. In 1899, accusations from the director of the Hong Kong Observatory led the United States War Department to temporarily prohibit Manila from transmitting weather information to nearby territories. Commercial groups in Hong Kong later pushed for the service to be restored, illustrating how scientific rivalry, colonial politics, and economic interests could influence the circulation of vital information.
Reconstructing this history required extensive archival work. Many unpublished reports and decades of data were lost when the observatory’s building was destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945. Dr. Alvarez therefore drew from surviving Spanish- and English-language publications, Philippine libraries and archives, and digitized collections maintained by institutions in the United States and Spain. The paper grew from a long-term research interest he began pursuing around 2010, supported over the years by university assistance, personal resources, research grants, and fellowships.
For aspiring historians, Dr. Alvarez advised researchers to identify a field in which they can develop sustained expertise, remain open to new subjects, and “embrace the messiness of research.” At a time when information can seemingly be produced through a quick online or artificial-intelligence search, he emphasized the continuing importance of returning to original sources and doing the patient work of historical inquiry.
Learn more about the people, institutions, and international networks that helped establish meteorology in the Philippines.
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Research spotlight:
Alvarez, Kerby C. 2025. “Scientific Textualizations of Tropical Cyclones in the Philippines: The Scientific Activities of the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila (OMM) and Philippine Weather Bureau (PWB), 1860s–1940s.” History of Meteorology 12: 1–26.
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