‘Lando’ now a severe tropical storm

LANDO (international name Koppu) has developed into a severe tropical storm on Thursday afternoon, the state weather bureau said.

The storm packed maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour near the center and gusts of up to 120 kph, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said in its bulletin.

Lando is forecast to make landfall on Sunday morning over Cagayan-Isabela area and may further intensify until then.

Rains are expected over Northern Luzon on Saturday. Metro Manila will experience isolated thunderstorms over the weekend.

Lando moved west at 17 kph, and was last tracked at 885 kilometers east of Baler in Aurora.

The northeast monsoon enhanced by the storm will dump rains in northern and Central Luzon.

Cloudy skies with light rains will be experienced over the regions of Cordillera, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon while light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms over Metro Manila, Bicol region and the provinces of Aurora, Rizal, Quezon and Samar.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will prevail over the rest of the country.