MANILA, Philippines — The western side of Luzon is still seeing a monsoon trough, but state meteorologists maintained on Friday that minimal effects of the trough are expected.
Rather, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) is looking at a cloud cluster east of the country, which may turn into a low-pressure area or even a tropical cyclone in the coming days.
According to Pagasa, the cloud cluster is still outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) but it may bring rains over Mindanao once it approaches the country.
“Patuloy po natin itong binabantayan o mino-monitor dahil nakikita natin na posible po itong pumasok sa ating PAR as a low pressure area or, hindi rin natin niru-rule out ‘yong possibility na ito ay maging isang bagyo,” weather specialist Ana Clauren said.
(We continue to monitor and watch over these cloud clusters because we expect it to enter our PAR as a low-pressure area or, possibly, a tropical cyclone as we do not rule out the possibility of this intensifying as a storm.)
“At base sa ating latest analysis ay posible po itong magdala ng mga pa-ulan sa mga susunod na araw dito sa bahagi ng Mindanao,” she added.
(And based on our latest analysis, it is possible that rains from these cloud clusters would affect parts of Mindanao in the coming days.)
Pagasa urged the public to continue monitoring updates from the weather bureau as scenarios may still change in the coming days. For now, a huge part of the country would have fair weather save for isolated rain showers due to thunderstorms.
On Saturday, hot and humid weather would prevail over Metro Manila and other areas in Luzon, although there is a high chance of rain showers by afternoon and night.
Metro Manila’s temperature would play around 24 to 33 degrees Celsius, Laoag with 25 to 31 degrees, Tuguegarao with 24 to 34 degrees, and Legazpi and Puerto Princesa both with 25 to 32 degrees.
Similar scenarios are expected in Visayas and Mindanao on Saturday, with temperatures in Tacloban playing between 25 to 31 degrees Celsius, Cebu with 25 to 32 degrees, Iloilo with 26 to 33 degrees, Zamboanga with 24 to 34 degrees, Cagayan de Oro with 24 to 31 degrees, and Davao with 25 to 33 degrees.
No gale warning has been raised as sea conditions all over the country’s seas would be slight to moderate only.