Stronger ‘Dante’ won’t affect PH, predicts Pagasa

MTSAT ENHANCED-IR Satellite Image 3 a.m., 10 June 2013

MANILA, Philippines—Tropical Storm “Dante” (international name Yagi) may become stronger, according to the weather bureau, but it will not directly affect the country as it continues to exit the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) and heads for southern Japan.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that light to moderate rains and thunderstorms were nonetheless expected to hit the Southern Tagalog, Bicol and the Western and Central Visayas regions as the storm enhanced the southwest wind flow.

Forecaster Fernando Cada said that as of 4 p.m. on Sunday, the center of the tropical storm was 900 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes, with maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph.

Cada said “Dante” considerably slowed to between 17 kph and 11 kph on its north-northeastern movement toward southern Japan.

He said it was possible the storm could gather strength while blowing over the east Philippine Sea but was too far away to directly affect the country.

Dante’s interaction with the southwest wind over the western section, Cada said, would bring rain over Mimaropa (Mindoro provinces, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), as well as the Bicol region and Western and Central Visayas.

Dante is expected to be 1,050 km northeast of Basco by Monday morning and 1,140 km northeast of the province or 500 km east of Okinawa, Japan, by evening.

But Cada said that since it slowed down, it could exit the PAR between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

In its 5 p.m. forecast, Pagasa said the weather in Metro Manila and the rest of the country would be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms, mostly in the afternoon or evening.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest to west will prevail over extreme northern Luzon, where the coastal waters will be moderate to rough.—Jeannette I. Andrade