Rainy weather seen in most parts of PH on Jan. 1; boats warned on rough waves

The first day of 2013 will be cloudy with a chance of showers in most parts of the country, according to a special outlook for the New Year by the state weather bureau. PHOTO BY RICK ALBERTO

MANILA, Philippines—The first day of 2013 will be cloudy with a chance of showers in most parts of the country, according to a special outlook for the New Year by the state weather bureau. But no new storm appears to be in sight.

As in the past weeks, the northeast monsoon, locally known as “hanging amihan,” would remain the prevalent weather system affecting most of the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said.

“The weather systems to affect most parts of the country are the northeast monsoon associated with strong to gale force winds and the tail-end of cold front will prevail in the next five days,” the advisory prepared by Pagasa Administrator Nathaniel Servando, said.

The Cagayan Valley Region, as well as Aurora province and the Cordillera Administrative Region, will experience fair weather on Sunday but light rains are expected on New Year’s Day until the next day, according to Pagasa.

“Likewise, southern Luzon, eastern Visayas and eastern Mindanao will have occasional rains due to the southward migration of the tail end of a cold front on Monday until Tuesday,” it said.

The rains will become more frequent over Surigao, Dinagat and Leyte provinces, and may trigger flash floods and landslides on Wednesday, according to the weather bureau said.

The rest of the country would have partly cloudy to at times cloudy with passing light rains, Pagasa said.

The advisory made no mention of any new approaching weather disturbance, and forecasters said they did not expect another tropical cyclone in 2012 after last week’s tropical storm Quinta, which wreaked moderate damage in the Visayas.

Going out into the seaboards of Northern and Central Luzon (western and northern) might be risky for fishing boats and other sea vessels due to big waves generated by monsoon surge, Pagasa said.

Also, “fisher folks over the seaboards of eastern Luzon, southern Luzon and Visayas should exercise extra caution” as the seas would be moderate to rough due to moderate to strong winds, it said.