MANILA, Philippines — The state weather bureau is monitoring a low pressure area that may affect the country towards the end of this week.
A low pressure area may bring much-needed rains to the country, which is in the grip of a long El Niño dry spell.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is expected to announce Mondaywhether the low pressure area will develop into a tropical cyclone.
Should the low pressure area develop into a cyclone, it will be named Lando, the 12th cyclone to hit the country this year and the second this month.
The country averages 20 to 21 cyclones each year.
In the meantime, for the first part of this week, most of the country will have fair weather with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms, according to PAGASA.
Extreme northern Luzon consisting of Batanes province with the Calayan and Babuyan islands, however, will continue to experience light to moderate rains due to the tail-end of a cold front that started to be felt over the weekend.
PAGASA raised a gale warning over the weekend, warning fishing boats and small vessels against venturing out to sea due to very rough seas. Larger sea vessels were also warned against big waves.
PAGASA said the rainy season ended last Wednesday, October 7, with the termination of the southwest monsoon.
The early onset of the northeast monsoon is expected this week.
The end of the rainy season came a week after PAGASA warned that this particularly strong El Niño episode would worsen in the coming months, such that most of the country would have way below normal rains from October this year to April next year.
By the end of October, 39 provinces are expected to suffer from insufficient rains. SFM