A LOW pressure area (LPA) earlier monitored east of Mindanao entered the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday and may intensify into a tropical depression, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
The LPA was some 870 km east of Mindanao as of 3 p.m. yesterday.
In a weather advisory issued at 11 a.m. yesterday, PAGASA said the LPA may develop into a tropical depression within 48 hours.
If it intensifies into a tropical depression, it will be named “Rosal,” the country’s 18th tropical cyclone this year and the first for this month.
PAGASA weather specialist Benison Estareja said the LPA was did not directly affect the country yesterday.
“But based on the latest satellite animation, the trough or extension of the LPA is already bringing rains in many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao and even parts of Bicol region,” said Estareja.
Estareja said the LPA was moving towards the Eastern Visayas and Bicol regions.
“This weekend, it will be near Visayas, Bicol region and other areas in southern Luzon and early next week, it is expected to be in east of Luzon,” he also said.
Estareja said there is a possibility the track of the LPA will change. “So we will continue to monitor,” he said.
PAGASA, in a 24-hour public weather forecast issued at 4 p.m., said Mindanao and the Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, and Bicol regions will have cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms, while the provinces of Cagayan, Apayao, and Ilocos Norte will have cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.
Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have party cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms due to localized thunderstorms.
