Rainy in northern Luzon with onset of ‘amihan’

MTSAT ENHANCED-IR Satellite Image 7 a.m., 18 October 2013

MANILA, Philippines—Parts of northern Luzon will experience rains due to the northeast monsoon, or hanging amihan, the state weather bureau said Friday.

“Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley will experience scattered light rains,” the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

The onset of the northeast monsoon was declared on Thursday. It is usually associated with the Christmas season, characterized by cooler weather.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the northeast to north with slight to moderate seas, Pagasa said.

Meanwhile, a typhoon internationally named “Francisco” was spotted some 2,000 kilometers in the Pacific Ocean. It is expected to enter the country by Sunday or Monday.

Leni Ruiz of Pagasa said that it would not directly affect the country like “Tino” (international name: Wipha) as it would pass by extreme Northern Luzon only briefly.

Francisco will be locally named “Urduja” once it enters the Philippine area of responsibility.