No LPA expected to enter Phl this week

MANILA, Philippines - No low-pressure area or tropical cyclone is expected to affect the Philippines in the next three days, aside from rains from the northeast monsoon and tail-end of a cold front, the state weather bureau said yesterday.

 Aldczar Aurelio, weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said the northeast monsoon will persist over Northern and Central Luzon, bringing cold temperatures and light rains.

The tail-end of a cold front is affecting Eastern Visayas and is also expected to bring rains over parts of Luzon and Visayas.

Eastern and Central Visayas will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms.

Metro Manila, the regions of Cagayan Valley, Cordillera, Ilocos and Central Luzon will have cloudy skies with light rains.

The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms.

Aurelio said numerical models still showed a low-pressure area may form over the Pacific Ocean this week. But he did not immediately say if the cluster of clouds could intensify into a cyclone.

PAGASA also warned the public against big waves in Batanes, Calayan, Babuyan, Northern Coast of Cagayan and northern coast of Ilocos Norte due to the surge of the northeast monsoon.

 The agency said these areas would experience rough to very rough seas with wave heights reaching up to 3.5 to 4.5 meters in the next 24 hours. In other areas, the sea conditions will be moderate to rough.