MANILA, Philippines – Severe Tropical Storm Tisoy has weakened further as its center moved outside of the country’s landmass, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
According to the state weather bureau’s latest weather update on Wednesday, Tisoy (International name: Kammuri) was last seen 290 kilometers west southwest of Subic in Zambales. It is now packing maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 115 kph.
It is moving in a west-northwest pattern, at a speed of 15kph, and is expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday morning as a low-pressure area.
With these developments, Pagasa said all tropical cyclone wind signal warnings are now lifted, although they still warned of rough seas on the western and southern seaboards of Luzon.
Despite Tisoy’s impending exit, Pagasa insisted that residents of Luzon, particularly in the western side of Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, and Southern Luzon should monitor the situation as cloud bands brought by the weather disturbance and the northeast monsoon are still prevailing.
Moderate with occasional heavy rains are expected over Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Aurora province.
“Bagamat malayo na ang kaulapang dulot nitong si Bagyong Tisoy ay mapapansin natin may mga bahagya pa ring ulap lalo na dito sa kanlurang bahagi ng Central and Southern Luzon,” Senior Weather Specialist Chirs Perez said.
“Bukod pa diyan, meron pa tayong umiiral na Amihan o northeast monsoon dito sa Northern Luzon, mas makapal pa nga ang kaulapan […] ang mga kababayan natin dito maging alerto pa rin po dahil mas magiging madalas ang pag-ulan, baka saturated na ang kalupaan, pwede po itong maka-dulot ng pagguho ng lupa,” he added.
(Even if the clouds brought by Tisoy are already far, we have observed that there are still cloud bands affecting the west side of Central and Southern Luzon.)
(Aside from that, we have a prevalent northeast monsoon in North Luzon. Residents are advised to stay alert as frequent rains may result in the saturation of land, which is a cause for landslide.)