Low pressure area threatens Mindanao with more rain

As the year was about to close, a low pressure area developed off Mindanao Saturday, threatening to bring rain over the eastern and southern sections of the island as well as parts of the Visayas in the next few days, but it was unlikely to intensify into a tropical depression, weather forecasters said.
The low pressure area, estimated at 490 kilometers east southeast of General Santos City Saturday morning, would blanket Visayas and Mindanao with cloudy skies coupled with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms, forecaster Raymond Ordinario of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.
The showers and thunderstorms would become widespread rain over eastern and southern Mindanao, and the residents are forewarned of possible flash floods and landslides, he said.
“It will bring rain over eastern and southern Mindanao until the middle of the coming week,” unless it dissipates sooner, Ordinario told the Inquirer on the telephone.
He said the weather disturbance had a slim chance of intensifying into a tropical depression.
Ordinario said the band of clouds was so spread out that the low pressure area could dissipate at any time, but if it survives travel through Mindanao it will dissipate when it encounters the cold surface temperatures of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), he said.
This weather system, together with the convergence of the northeast monsoon and easterly winds, would also bring mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms over Visayas, Ordinario said.
The northeast monsoon sweeping Luzon with cold and dry air from Siberia would bring light rain over the northern and southern parts of the island, including Metro Manila, and light to moderate rain over the eastern sections.
Luzon and Visayas would continue to experience moderate to strong winds from the northeast, while elsewhere, winds from northeast would be moderate to occasionally strong.
“Since Amihan will peak this month, expect colder weather, especially in northern and central Luzon,’’ Ordinario said.
After Tropical Storm Sendong struck Mindanao on December 17, leaving more than 1,260 dead and P1.3-billion damage to agriculture and infrastructure, there has been no sign of another cyclone crossing the archipelago.
Sendong was the 19th and last cyclone, and the most destructive to enter the Philippine area of responsibility in 2011. The archipelago is battered by an average of 20 cyclones a year. TJ Burgonio

Originally posted at 3:19 p.m.