Fair Weather Weekend — PAGASA

Most parts of the country will continue to experience fair weather in the next two to three days, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Friday.

In an interview, PAGASA weather forecaster Meno Mendoza said that as of 4 a.m. Friday, the low pressure area — based on all available data — was 285 km east of Basco, Batanes (20.6N, 124.7E).

He said the LPA has slim chance to reintensify and is expected to dissipate in the coming days due to the presence of cold winds of the northeast monsoon or “hanging amihan”.

He said the LPA will bring cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms over Ilocos Norte, Apayao, Batanes and Cagayan including Calayan and Babuyan group of islands.

He added fair weather or partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will be experienced over Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

Mendoza said the country is now experiencing transition period as the wind will shift from southwest monsoon to the cold weather-associated northeast monsoon this month.

He said the southwest monsoon is the prevailing weather system in the country during rainy season or from June to early October, while the northeast monsoon or the “winter winds” normally starts during mid-October and ends in late-March.

The northeast monsoon or “hanging amihan” is the cold wind from China and Siberia that blows into the country from late October until mid-February.

It is usually associated with the Christmas season.

In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the northwest to southwest will prevail over Luzon and Eastern Visayas and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the southeast to southwest with slight to moderate seas.

The state-run weather bureau also issued gale warning as the sea condition will be rough to very rough in the northern seaboard of Northern Luzon.

”Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” it warned. (PNA) JBP/CLTC