MANILA, Philippines — Rains brought by a low pressure area (LPA) off Palawan are expected to ease as the weather disturbance moves westward toward the West Philippine Sea, the state weather bureau said Friday.
The LPA, designated as 09e, was located over the coastal waters of Dumaran, Palawan, and was moving westward as of 5 a.m., according to Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) weather specialist Leanne Loreto.
Loreto said the LPA was unlikely to develop into a tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours. It may dissipate once it moves over the West Philippine Sea.
“Sa halip, habang kumikilos ito pakanluran, kung nandoon na siya sa may West Philippine Sea ay maaaring malusaw na lamang ito at kakaunti na lamang din yung maaapektuhan nito sa susunod na 24 oras,” she added.
(Instead, while it moves westward, once it’s over the West Philippine Sea, this may dissipate and only a handful would be affected by this LPA in the next 24 hours.)
The LPA, however, is expected to bring scattered rain showers over most of the Visayas, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao as well as the provinces of Batangas and Quezon.
But she added that in the next few hours, there will be fewer rains as the low pressure ares moves away.
Meanwhile, Metro Manila and most of Luzon as well as the rest of Mindanao, including Soccsksargen, Davao region and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will generally have fair weather, although isolated thunderstorms may still occur from afternoon to evening.
She further noted that the state weather bureau was also monitoring Severe Tropical Storm Dujuan, located 2,460 kilometers (km) east-northeast of Extreme Northern Luzon.
Dujuan was moving northwestward at 55 km per hour (kph) with a maximum wind speed of 110 kph and gusts of up to 135 kph.
“Hindi na natin ito inaasahan na papasok ng ating area of responsibility at hindi din makakaapekto sa ating bansa,” Loreto explained.
(We don’t expect this to enter our area of responsibility and directly affect our country.)
Despite these developments, Pagasa did not raise a gale warning over the country’s seaboards.