Typhoon Marilyn enters Philippine area of responsibility

MANILA, Philippines - Typhoon Marilyn (international name In-Fa) entered the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday, but state  forecasters said it  is not expected to affect the country’s weather today.

Weather forecaster Samuel Duran of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the typhoon is still too far from landmass to bring rain in any part of the country.

Latest available data show the weather system will not make landfall and would re-curve in the next few days.

In its 5 p.m. weather advisory yesterday, PAGASA said the typhoon was located at 1,140 kilometers east of Catanduanes. It has maximum sustained winds of 175 km per hour and gustiness of up to 210 km per hour. It is forecast to move west northwest at 25 km per hour.

The typhoon is expected to be at 1,010 km east of Aurora this morning; 1,080 km east of Cagayan on Tuesday morning, and 1220 km east of Batanes on Wednesday morning.

Marilyn is expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday.

Duran said the country’s weather is being affected by the intertropical convergence zone and the northeast monsoon.

“Cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms will be experienced over Eastern and Central Visayas and Mindanao. Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country,” the weather bureau said.

“Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and Visayas and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the northeast with slight to moderate seas,” it added.