MANILA, Philippines - The state weather bureau alerted the public yesterday to brace for heavy rains later this week brought by Tropical Storm Goni, which is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) tomorrow night or early Wednesday.
Gener Quitlong, weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said Goni was spotted at 2,515 kilometers east of Southern Luzon as of 2 a.m. yesterday.
Goni, which will be given the local name “Ineng” once inside PAR, is packing winds of 100 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 130 kph. It was moving west-northwest at 15 kph.
Quitlong said Goni may intensify into a typhoon before it enters the PAR.
If Goni maintains its present track, it would directly affect extreme Northern Luzon, and might make landfall in the Batanes islands, Quitlong said.
He said they were also monitoring a high-pressure area (HPA) north of Goni, which could push it down further toward Northern Luzon areas.
He said there is a high probability that the weather disturbance would enhance the southwest monsoon, which will bring rains in other parts of the country beginning Thursday until the weekend.
“By Thursday, the southwest monsoon would bring rains over Visayas and Mindanao. By Friday, rains would reach Central and Southern Luzon, including Metro Manila,” Quitlong said.
He said Goni is likely to exit the PAR on Sunday.
Meanwhile, PAGASA was also keeping a close watch over another storm over the Pacific Ocean.
The storm with international name Atsani was located 4,440 km east of Central Luzon as of 2 a.m. yesterday.
The storm, however, is still too far for the weather bureau to say if it would enter or hit the Philippines, Quitlong said.
He added that Goni and an HPA was causing Atsani to move slowly.
Should Atsani enter PAR, it will be locally named “Jenny.”
Meanwhile, the intertropical converegence zone (ITCZ) where low-pressure areas form, continued to affect Visayas and Northern Mindanao.
PAGASA said the ITCZ would continue to bring cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms over the regions of Eastern and Central Visayas, Caraga, Davao and Northern Mindanao until today.
Metro Manila and the rest of the country, on the other hand, would still experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms.