TS ‘Bavi’ Continues to Weaken but Will Affect Northern, Central Luzon Thursday or Friday- PAGASA

(PNA) — The tropical storm “Bavi” continues to weaken as it changed its movement due to the presence of ridge of high pressure area (HPA), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Tuesday.

PAGASA weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said tropical storm “Bavi” (International Name) is still outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR)and was estimated based on all available data at 1,430 km east of Bicol Region (14.3˚N, 137.5˚E).

Tropical storm Bavi has maximum winds of 65 kph which decreased from 85 kph on Monday and gustiness of up to 80 kph which decreased from 90 kph.

He added the movement of the tropical storm changed from west southwest to west at 30 kph which is expected to enter PAR on Tuesday.

Aurelio said once it enters PAR, it will be locally named “Betty” but it will still not directly affect the country and is expected to continue to weaken and as it will be downgraded to a tropical depression.

He also said Betty will affect Northern and Central Luzon by Thursday or Friday and before it makes landfall, it is expected to weaken into a low pressure area because the ridge of the HPA continues to affect Northern Luzon.

Aurelio said with the presence of HPA, most parts of the country will continue to experience generally fair weather on Tuesday as the entire archipelago will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast to east will prevail over Eastern Luzon and coming from the east to northeast over the eastern section of Visayas and Mindanao.

The coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate blowing from the east to northeast with slight to moderate seas. (PNA) FPV/CLTC