‘Karding’ now a tropical storm

MANILA, Philippines — “Karding” (international name: Yagi) has developed into a tropical storm Wednesday afternoon, state weather bureau PAGASA said.

Tropical Storm Karding was last seen 1,220 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 80 kilometers per hour.

No area is under tropical cyclone warning signal and “Karding” is not expected to hit the land.

Moving east-northeast at 15 kilometers per hour, it is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility between Friday evening and Saturday morning.

The low pressure area over the West Philippine Sea, meanwhile, has already left PAR, PAGASA said.

However, the LPA and the tropical storm will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon, which will bring scattered light to moderate with at times heavy rains over the western portions of the country until Friday.

The western sections of northern and central Luzon will be affected by scattered to widespread moderate to heavy rains this weekend.

The state weather bureau advised that sea travel is risky over the western seaboards of Luzon due to the southwest monsoon.

Gale warning was issued has been issued for Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, Cavite, western coast of Batangas, Occidental Mindoro and Palawan.