Rainy weather to persist until Wednesday due to ‘Maring’ — Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines — Bad weather in the country, particularly in the western section of Luzon, is expected to persist until Wednesday when tropical storm “Maring” (international name Trami) is forecast to move out of the country’s area of responsibility.

But Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) forecasters said that “Maring,” which intensified Sunday afternoon into a storm from a tropical depression, has been showing signs of making a U-turn and staying within the Philippine area of responsibility.

Forecaster Glaiza Escullar said that the tropical storm has been enhancing the habagat (southwest monsoon) bringing rains over the whole country, mostly in the western part of Luzon.

The western section of Luzon covers Metro Manila, the Ilocos Region, Zambales, La Union, Pangasinan, Bataan, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, the Mindoro provinces, and Palawan.

Escullar alerted residents in the National Capital Region, Ilocos Region, Calabarzon as well as the provinces of Benguet, Zambales, Bataan, and Occidental Mindoro to possible flashfloods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains.

The Western Visayas, Mindanao and the rest of Luzon will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms while the rest of the Visayas will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

The weather forecaster said that the slow movement of “Maring” and its constant slight changes in direction have indicated the tropical storm’s tendency to make a U-turn. But Escullar assured that should it do so, it would still be far from the country’s landmass.

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, tropical storm Maring was estimated at 560 kilometers east of Itbayat, Batanes with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kilometers per hour, moving east-northeast at 7 kilometer per hour.

Pagasa added in its forecast that moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail throughout the country where coastal waters would be moderate to rough.