MANILA, (PNA) — Southwest monsoon which continues to be the dominant weather system will bring rains in most parts of the country until weekend, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA said on Friday.
In an interview, PAGASA weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said southwest monsoon or “hanging habagat” affecting Luzon and Western Visayas — associated with the occurrence of intermittent to continuous rains — is the prevailing wind system during the rainy season.
For Friday forecast, Aurelio said the provinces of Zambales and Bataan will have monsoon rains while Metro Manila, the rest of Central Luzon, the regions of Ilocos, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol and Western Visayas will experience occasional rains.
He added the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.
Aurelio said the state weather bureau also issued gale warning — strong to gale force winds associated with the southwest monsoon and enhanced by tropical storm “Inday” — will affect the seaboard of Luzon.
PAGASA said the western seaboards of Luzon (Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, western coast of Ilocos Norte, Zambales, Bataan, Cavite, Mindoro Occidental, western coast of Batangas and Palawan), the northern and eastern seaboards of Luzon and southern seaboard of southern Luzon will experience rough to very rough seas with 3.4 to 4.5 meters wave heights.
“Fishing boats and other small sea crafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” the agency said.
Meanwhile, Aurelio said the weather bureau continues to monitor another tropical storm (with international name Halong) which is still far from the country.
As of 4 a.m. the tropical storm Halong was located at 1,740 km east of Central Luzon with maximum sustained winds of 85 kph and gustiness of up to 100 kph. It is forecast to move west northwest slowly.
Based on their models as of now, Aurelio said the tropical storm Halong is expected to enter the country by Monday or Tuesday.
“It may enter the PAR, in which case it will only pass by the corner of Northern Luzon and it will not directly affect the country but is expected to enhance the southwest monsoon that will induce rains,” he told the Philippines News Agency (PNA) in an interview.
He said once the tropical storm enters the country it will be named “Jose”, the 10th tropical cyclone this year.
He added that three to four tropical cyclones are expected for the month of August.
Every year, an average of about 18 to 20 storms affect the Philippines.