MANILA, Philippines — The prevailing southwest monsoon, locally known as habagat, is expected to intensify if the low-pressure area (LPA) located north of Palawan develops into a tropical depression in the next twelve hours.
Weather bulletin from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) on Tuesday afternoon showed that the LPA spotted 75 kilometers north-northwest of Coron in Palawan is surrounded by thick cloud bands that may bring rain over many parts of the country.
Pagasa also sad the LPA will be named “Leon” in case it becomes a tropical depression before leaving the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) possibly by Wednesday afternoon.
“Generally, pa-kanluran ang magiging pagkilos ng bagyo, at posible po na magtaas tayo ng Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal sa ilang bahagi ng Mimaropa dahil malapit pa rin po ito sa ating kalupaan,” weather specialist Ariel Rojas said.
(Generally, the LPA is moving towards the west, and possibly, we’ll raise a Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal in some parts of Mimaropa because this is still near land.)
“At kapag naging bagyo na ang LPA, inaasahang ito ay magpapalakas ng hanging habagat na magdudulot po ng malalakas na pag-ulan sa kanlurang bahagi ng Mimaropa, especially sa may Palawan,” he added.
(And if the LPA becomes a tropical depression, it is expected to intensify the southwest monsoon which will result in heavy rain over the western portion of Mimaropa, especially in Palawan.)
Pagasa said rain and gusty winds near the Kalayaan Group of Islands are likely on Wednesday with Palawan towns possibly experiencing monsoon rains that may trigger flash floods and landslides.
Also on Wednesday, Luzon may see dark skies as there are high chances of moderate to heavy isolated rains in the region, according to the state weather bureau.
Pagasa said the weather may only start to improve by Thursday and Friday.
For now, no gale warning has been raised by Pagasa even if it also said that sea conditions in the northern part of Palawan and western and northern parts of Luzon will be moderate to rough on Wednesday. The rest of the country, on the other hand, will have moderate sea conditions.