Weather satellite image from Pagasa
MANILA, Philippines — Most of the country is expected to experience cloudy skies and rains on Thursday due to the trough of Severe Tropical Storm Bebinca and the southwest monsoon, the state weather agency said.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that based on its last tracking, Bebinca was 1,975 kilometers east of Central Luzon – outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), packing maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (kph) with gustiness of 115 kph.
“Let’s now expect rains today and in the coming days in most parts of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” Pagasa specialist Benison Estareja said in Filipino in Thursday morning’s public weather report.
READ: Cloudy Wednesday (Sept 11) with a chance of rain in parts of PH
The trough or extension of Bebinca will bring cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms to Eastern Visayas, Caraga Region, Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, and Masbate, according to Estareja.
The southwest monsoon, locally termed habagat, meanwhile, was forecast to cause overcast skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms in the rest of Visayas and Mindanao, as well as Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, and Romblon on Thursday.
As for Metro Manila and the rest of the country, partly cloudy to cloudy skies with chances of isolated rain showers could be expected Thursday, Estareja added.
Estareja noted that Bebinca may intensify into a typhoon before entering the PAR on Friday night.
Once Bebinca enters PAR, it will be locally named Ferdie and the sixth tropical cyclone to hit the country.
“It’s expected to move northwest until it leaves PAR on Saturday morning,” he said.
Pagasa did not raise any gale warnings over any seaboards nationwide for September 12.