Good day to clean house, do laundry; sun’s in the heart

This would be the best time to clean the house and do the laundry after almost two weeks of floods and monsoon rains as the long weekend promises “generally sunny, fair weather.”

Science Secretary Mario Montejo issued a special weather outlook bulletin on Friday, ahead of an extended weekend break because of national holidays on Monday and Tuesday in observance of Eid’l Fitr (August 20) and Ninoy Aquino Day (August 21).

“We anticipate generally sunny, fair weather for the long weekend ahead, the best time to resume our usual weekend activities at home or elsewhere with our family and friends,” Montejo said.

“It is also the best time to do and hang the laundry, and wash off the mud and dirt that built up during the recent monsoon rains and Typhoon ‘Helen,’” he said.

But while enjoying the break and the good weather, Filipinos should bear in mind that some areas of Luzon are still flooded, Montejo said.

“Our hearts go to our people who could not yet go back to normal living conditions and we hope that the good weather ahead will somehow help improve their situation,” he said.

‘Weak southwest monsoon’

Quoting the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Montejo said the weather bureau forecast a “weak southwest monsoon will be the dominant weather system to affect the whole country in the next five days, August 18 to 22.”

“This means generally good weather conditions, except for isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening,” Montejo said.

However, an active low pressure area forming east of Luzon by Sunday could still spoil things during the long weekend.

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, the active low pressure area was estimated at 360 kilometers east-northeast of Aparri, Cagayan, Pagasa said in a 5 p.m. bulletin.

Tropical depression

The Japan Meteorological Agency, however, classified the weather disturbance as a tropical depression, packing maximum wind speeds near the center of 15 meters per second, or 54 kilometers per hour, and maximum gust speeds of 23 mps, or 82.8 kph.

Pagasa said the new weather disturbance would bring scattered rain showers and thunderstorms in Northern and Central Luzon, becoming widespread over Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino and Aurora, which may trigger flash floods and landslides.

But the rest of  the country will see partly cloudy  to cloudy weather with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms, Pagasa said.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest to west will prevail over Northern Luzon, and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough, it said.

“Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the southwest to west with slight to moderate seas,” Pagasa said.