Sierra Madre Is Trending During Super Typhoon Karding, Here's Why

(SPOT.ph) Sierra Madre was trending on Monday as netizens tweeted how it protected the region from the worst of Typhoon Karding (Noru)'s lashing over the weekend.

The longest mountain range in the Philippines which stretches 540 kilometers from Cagayan Province in the north to Quezon Province in the south serves as a typhoon barrier coming from the Pacific Ocean, earning it the nickname the "backbone of Luzon."

EXPLAINERS:
Why Karding, Like Odette and Yolanda, Struck During Christmas Months
Why Does PAGASA Name Typhoons After People?

Sierra Madre trending

Sierra Madre has been trending since the weekend with more than 77,000 mentions on Twitter as of Monday morning.

Karding, which rapidly intensified into a super typhoon ahead of its Sunday landfall in Burdeos, Quezon and Dingalan, Aurora, weakened into a typhoon after its interaction with Sierra Madre, said ABS-CBN News resident meteorologist Ariel Rojas.

"Normally when tropical storms cross Sierra Madre, the circulation of the winds are disorganized so it actually results to a weakening of the tropical cyclone," he told ANC.

"Sign the petition" was also among the top trending tweets, with netizens urging other to join the petition to stop the controversial Kaliwa Dam project as it could cause deforestation in the southern part of the mountains.