MANILA, Philippines -- A low pressure area east of Mindanao is expected to intensify into a tropical cyclone on Saturday, the weather bureau said Wednesday.
The low pressure area, a rain-inducing weather system, was swirling over the Philippine Sea some 830 kilometers east of Mindanao, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.
"By Saturday, it will become a full-blown tropical cyclone," PAGASA weather bureau chief Nathaniel Cruz Jr. said in a press briefing.
The cyclone, to be called “Frank,” will not hit land, but will bring rain over Visayas and Mindanao, he said.
So far, the low pressure area has not triggered rain, he said.
The afternoon rain showers that occasionally hit some parts of the country are caused by convection, or the process of warm air rising to form rain-inducing clouds, senior weather specialist Robert Sawi said.
On Thursday, the country will experience good weather except for the afternoon or evening rainshowers and thunderstorms. This will become cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms over southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao Thursday.
Sawi said the weather bureau expected the weather disturbance, once it would intensify into a cyclone, to recurve and exit through the Philippine Sea, its point of entry.
If ever, this will be the first cyclone this month and the sixth this year.
PAGASA director Prisco Nilo said the bureau expected more than 20 cyclones to swirl into the Philippine area of responsibility this year.
“In terms of number, this is above normal,” he said during the briefing. “But the strong typhoons will come toward the last quarter of the year.”
PAGASA held the briefing to launch the “Typhoon and Flood Awareness (TFA) Week,” made possible by Proclamation No. 1535 declaring the third week of June as TFA Week.
The proclamation, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, mandates PAGASA to raise public awareness on the ways of mitigating loss of life and damage to property during storms through a series of activities.
