Northeast monsoon, tail-end of cold front, LPA to greet 2018

Expect rainfall to put a damper on the New Year revelry, as the state weather bureau forecasts three weather systems will affect the Philippine archipelago from Dec. 31, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018.

In its special weather outlook for the New Year holidays released on Saturday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecasts that until Tuesday, the northeast monsoon (or “amihan”), the tail-end of a cold front, and an incoming low pressure area (LPA) will be bringing light to heavier rains as the days pass, in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The northeast monsoon is expected to bring cloudy skies with light rains over the eastern section of northern and central Luzon, including Metro Manila until Jan. 2.

Light to moderate rains will fall in the Bicol region until Dec. 31, while the rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy skies with passing light rains.

Meanwhile, in the Visayas, light to moderate rains is expected due to the southward migration of the tail-end of the cold front.

Mindanao is seen to bear the brunt of the rainfall in the next few days.

While only light to moderate rainshowers and isolated thunderstorms are expected over Mindanao until New Year’s eve, the rains are expected to intensify occasionally, accompanied with gusty winds, on New Year’s Day until Jan. 2 as an LPA is expected to pass over Mindanao.

As of Saturday, the LPA remains outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), but it’s expected to enter PAR by Sunday.

There’s a 50 percent chance that it will develop into the first tropical cyclone of 2018, to be called “Agaton” once it intensifies into a tropical depression, said weather Specialist Gener Quitlong in a weather forecast on Saturday morning.

The weather disturbance may possibly make landfall in eastern Visayas or eastern Mindanao sometime in the first two days of 2018, Quitlong said.

The LPA or tropical depression is expected to bring moderate up to occasionally intense rains with gusty winds on Jan. 1 and 2 in Mindanao as it approaches and makes landfall.

Pagasa warns of possible flashflood and landslides over the Davao and Caraga regions, as well as Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental ,Samar and Leyte provinces.

The weather disturbance is expected to also affect the southern portion of the Visayas, bringing moderate to heavy rains with gusty winds on the first two days of the year.

In Luzon, the LPA or tropical depression is expected to affect only Palawan, which will have moderate to heavy rains and gusty winds on Tuesday as the weather disturbance crosses the island.

Over the next few days, Pagasa warns against sea travel due to tall waves brought by the monsoon over the seaboard of Luzon and Visayas, and the possible effects of the low pressure area and tropical depression in Mindanao.