THE enhanced southwest monsoon or habagat is causing continuous rainfall in parts of the country, including in Metro Manila, the state-run weather bureau said on Wednesday.
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that in the next 24 hours, monsoon rains will also be experienced over the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Occidental Mindoro, and the northern portion of Palawan (including Calamian and Kalayaan Islands).
Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with rain showers or thunderstorms may prevail over the rest of the country due to habagat, it said.
Meanwhile, severe tropical storm “Fabian” is estimated at 740 kilometers east-northeast of Itbayat, Batanes, senior weather specialist Chris Perez told The Manila Times.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 160kph, Fabian is moving west-southwestward at 10kph, he said.
“Based on our forecast track, it will pass close or make landfall in the vicinity of Yaeyama, Miyako and Senkaku Islands of the Ryukyu Archipelago on Friday before exiting PAR on Saturday morning,” Perez said.
He stressed that Fabian is unlikely to directly bring heavy rain to the country throughout the forecast period.
“But due to the uncertainty in the later portion of the track forecast of Fabian, the hoisting of Signal No. 1 over Batanes and Babuyan Islands remains a possibility,” Perez said.
Pagasa said it was also monitoring another severe tropical storm named “Cempaka”, which is estimated at 1,030 kms west of extreme Northern Luzon or in the vicinity of Yangjiang, Guangdong, China, outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
It is not expected to affect the country, the bureau said.