West PH to see rains due to habagat; storm brewing outside PAR — Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines — Western parts of Luzon and Visayas would still see gloomy skies and rain showers as the southwest monsoon or habagat continues to bring cloud clusters from the West Philippine Sea.

Aside from that, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Monday that weather specialists are monitoring a tropical depression outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR).

As of 3 p.m., the still unnamed tropical depression packs maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 70 kph.

It was last seen 2,265 kilometers east of Visayas, and is moving on a northwest pattern at a speed of 20 kph.

“Sa ngayon wala itong direktang epekto sa anumang bahagi ng ating bansa, o maging dito sa eastern seaboards ng ating bansa,” senior weather specialist Chris Perez said.

(As of now this tropical depression has no direct effect on any part of the country, or even over the eastern seaboard.)

According to Perez, wind and rainfall forecasts used by Pagasa showed that the tropical depression is expected to affect only the waters east of the country, which means that it has a low chance of even entering the PAR.

“Ibig sabihin so far, sa ngayon, maliit ang tsansa na pumasok sa ating area of responsibility ‘yong tropical depression na sa kasalukuyan ay nasa labas pa po ng ating PAR,” Perez explained.

(It means that so far, there is a small chance that the tropical depression outside the PAR would enter our area of responsibility.)

“In terms of habagat naman, patuloy pa ring iiral dito sa ating bansa, mapapansin din natin na ‘yong kanlurang bahagi po ng ating bansa ang madalas na posibleng maka-ranas ng pag-ulan, kaya pinapayuhan po ‘yong mga kababayan natin sa western section ng Luzon at Visayas na patuloy na mag-antabay sa ating public weather forecast,” he added.

(In terms of the southwest monsoon, it would continue affecting the country as we can observe that the western portions would likely experience most of the rain showers, that’s why we are advising people on the western sections of Luzon and Visayas to continue monitoring our weather forecasts.)

For Tuesday, cloudy skies would still hover across western parts of Luzon, leading to lower than usual temperatures in Laoag with 24 to 32 degrees Celsius, Tagaytay with 22 to 31 degrees, and Puerto Princesa with 25 to 31 degrees.

Meanwhile, other parts of the country would have clearer skies with a high chance of thunderstorms by afternoon and night, like in Metro Manila which will have temperatures of 26 to 32 degrees, Legazpi with 25 to 32 degrees, and Tuguegarao with 25 to 37 degrees.

For Visayas and Mindanao, Iloilo would have lower temperatures of 25 to 31 degrees Celsius compared to Cebu and Tacloban’s 26 to 32 degrees, still due to the habagat.  Zamboanga would have something between 24 to 34 degrees, Cagayan de Oro with 24 to 33 degrees, and Davao with 25 to 33 degrees.

No gale warning has been raised despite the southwest monsoon’s prevalence, but sea conditions on the western and northern seaboards of Luzon would be moderate to rough.  The eastern seas of Luzon and Visayas, and the western waters off Visayas too would have a moderate condition.

The rest of the country’s coastal areas would have a slight to moderate condition.

JPV