Typhoon ‘Tomas’ maintains strength as it heads to Cagayan

Typhoon “Tomas” has maintained its strength as it heads towards the northern section of the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Saturday.

As of 3 a.m., the eye of the weather typhoon was spotted at 1,400 kilometers East of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

“Tomas” is packing maximum sustained winds of 145 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness up to 180 kph.

“Tomas” entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) at 8 p.m. of Friday.

Pagasa said that although “Tomas” would not directly affect the country at the moment, Cagayan Valley, the Ilocos region and the Cordillera Administrative Region will have cloudy skies with isolated light rain due to the northeast monsoon.

Meanwhile Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshower caused by localized thunderstorms.  /muf