Fair Weather to Continue on Wednesday; Tropical Storm ‘Infa’ Spotted East of Mindanao

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecasters on Wednesday said they are now monitoring a tropical storm outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

PAGASA weather forecaster Shelly Ignacio said the tropical storm with international name “Infa” was located some 3,580 kilometers east of Mindanao — still too far to affect the country.

Ignacio said Infa is moving west northwest at 20 kph and expected to go near PAR by Sunday or Monday.

Conmsidering its distance, the weather bureau is now looking into several scenarios whether it will enter the country or not but they continue to monitor the tropical cyclone.

Once it enters the country it will be named “Marilyn” the 13th tropical cyclone to affect the country this year.

She added PAGASA is still expecting one to two tropical cyclones to affect the country for the month of November.

For Wednesday forecast, Ignacio said fair weather continues in most parts of the country except in Mindanao.

Ignacio said partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

She added an Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is now affecting southern Mindanao. ITCZ is the thick clouds coming from the south of Asia and is considered a breeding ground for low-pressure areas (LPAs) or potential cyclones.

With the presence of ITCZ, this will bring cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms over Mindanao.

In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the east will prevail over Northern Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the east to northeast with slight to moderate seas.

The state weather bureau has not issued a gale warning as fisherfolk are safe to venture into the sea. (PNA) JBP/CLTC