Tropical depression ‘Dante’ brings rains, thunderstorms

MTSAT ENHANCED-IR Satellite Image 9 a.m., 08 June 2013

MANILA, Philippines—Parts of the country are warned against heavy rains and thunderstorms which may trigger flash floods and landslides on Saturday due to tropical depression Dante, the state weather bureau said.

No tropical storm signals were raised, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

Dante, the low pressure area which intensified into a tropical depression Friday night, was last spotted 690 km east of Casiguran, Aurora province, packing maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour near the center. It is forecast to move north northwest at 11 kph.

“Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Caraga, Mimaropa and Visayas will experience cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rains and thunderstorms which may trigger flash floods and landslides. Bicol region and the rest of Mindanao will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms,” Pagasa said.

Meanwhile, Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will be partly cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening.

Moderate to occasionally strong winds blowing from the northwest to west will prevail over Eastern Luzon and coming from the Southwest over Palawan and the western section of Visayas and Mindanao, Pagasa said in its weather bulletin.

The coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to occasionally rough. Light to moderate winds blowing from the northwest to west will prevail over the rest of Luzon and coming from the southwest over the rest of the country with slight to moderate seas, it added.