Light rains expected over Metro Monday; heavy rains over provinces

MANILA, Philippines—Devotees of the Black Nazarene should bring their umbrellas for Monday’s day-long procession as light rains are expected in Metro Manila.

Intermittent light rains from the tail-end of the cold front moving over the city would likely dampen the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo, Manila, Aldczar Aurelio, a forecaster at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Administration (Pagasa) said on Sunday.

“It will be cloudy with light rains. But we don’t expect the rains to last the whole day like what is happening today,” he explained.

Aurelio advised those who will join the procession, an annual pilgrimage for millions of Catholic faithful, to bring an umbrella as the cold front was expected to move north.

On Sunday, the entire southern Luzon and Metro Manila experienced downpours almost the entire day due to the tail-end of the cold front, the boundary of two air masses bringing clouds and rains.

Pagasa, in its advisory on Sunday, said the entire city could be cloudy for the next three days.

But Pagasa did not see any storm coming to disrupt the procession.

While Metro Manila’s weather would improve on Monday, the same could not be said to other parts of the country, Pagasa said.

Pagasa said rains would continue to persist over the southern Luzon, Bicol region, Eastern Visayas and Eastern Mindanao.

As such, the weather bureau advised local officials to be on alert for possible geohazard risks like landslides and floods.

“Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms becoming widespread rains over southern Luzon, Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, which may trigger flashfloods and landslides,” Pagasa said.

The cold front was bringing rains over the Luzon regions, while the wind convergence was the culprit for the widespread cloudiness and downpour in the already-soaked regions of Mindanao and Visayas.