Thunderstorms forecast over Metro, Visayas, Central Luzon

Pagasa warned of thunderstorms over Metro Manila, the Visayas and Central Luzon as clouds crowd Philippine airspace in this satellite photo taken Sunday morning, August 20, 2017. PAGASA IMAGE

Metro Manila, the Visayas and Central Luzon will continue to experience thunderstorms due to the southwest monsoon or hanging habagat, the state weather bureau said Sunday morning.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said it was monitoring a low pressure area (LPA) estimated at 830 km East of Basco, Batanes, as of 3 a.m.

“Tinutumbok nito yung direksyon patungo sa bahagi ng Northern Luzon at Taiwan. At inaasahan nga natin na maairi itong mabuo bilang isang tropical depression sa susunod na anim hanggang 12 oras,” weather forecaster Robb Gile said during Pagasa’s 4 a.m. forecast.

(It’s going towards Northern Luzon and Taiwan. We are expecting that the LPA may escalate to a tropical depression within the next six to 12 hours.)

If the LPA becomes a tropical depression, Pagasa said it would be named “Isang.”

The Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Bicol regions will also experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rain and possible occasionally heavy rain, gusty winds and lightning due to thunderstorms, the weather agency said.

Over the rest of the country, partly cloudy to cloudy skies except for isolated light to occasionally heavy rain, gusty winds and lightning will prevail.

Meanwhile, moderate to strong winds blowing from the Northeast to Northwest will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon and coming from the southwest to west over Visayas, Mindanao and the rest of Luzon.

The coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough, the weather bureau added. CBB