Heavy rains in Eastern Visayas areas due to new LPA, tail-end of cold front

MANILA, Philippines—A new low pressure area and the tail-end of a cold front on Tuesday spawned heavy rain over the eastern parts of the archipelago, raising alerts on landslides and flashfloods.

Heavy rain fell over the provinces of Samar, Leyte, Sorsogon, Mindoro, Masbate and northern Palawan, said the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

Weather forecaster Jori Loiz said the LPA formed Tuesday morning off Borongan, Eastern Samar.

The LPA surfaced after an active LPA west northwest of Palawan exited the Philippine area of responsibility, and an LPA east of southern Mindanao dissipated. It will be tracked because of the possibility it might intensify into a storm.

The rest of the archipelago on Tuesday experienced cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms, induced by the tail-end of a cold front, which forms when cold air meets warm air.

It’s normal for the eastern parts of the country to experience rain during the dry season. But given the prevailing La Niña, it’s not unusual for LPAs to form over these areas.

“The East Philippine Sea is just too fertile. That’s why we have these LPAs,” Loiz said in an interview.

By April, when La Niña is expected to dissipate, the LPAs will be gone, Loiz said. “The weather situation goes back to normal by then,” she added.

For the past days, some parts of the archipelago, including Metro Manila, have been experiencing heavy rain for hours, as an offshoot of the cold front and the LPAs. Some have found this odd since the dry season had kicked in weeks ago.

Pagasa also issued warnings of strong gale force winds in the seaboards of Luzon and Eastern Visayas.