MANILA — The low pressure area (LPA) off Mindanao may enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Sunday and could stay linger within the country’s territory until Friday next week, the state weather bureau said.
As of 4:00 a.m. on Good Friday, the LPA was spotted some 1,620 kilometers east of Southern Mindanao, according to Benison Estareja, weather specialist of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
“Makikita po natin over the weekend, mabagal ang pagkilos nito palapit ng ating kalupaan papunta sa Mindanao at inaasahang papasok ng ating Philippine area of responsibility pagsapit ng linggo,” Estareja said.
(Over the weekend, the LPA will move slowly towards our landmass to Mindanao, and is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility on Sunday.)
2 possible tracks
Estareja said the LPA is expected to be closer to Caraga region by Monday and Pagasa is looking into two different scenarios by Tuesday.
“Pagsapit naman ng Lunes nasa silangang bahagi na ito ng Mindanao papalapit dito sa may Caraga region then pagsapit ng Tuesday mayroon po tayong dalawang scenario: Simula sa Tuesday hanggang sa Thursday, lalapit sa may silangang bahagi ng Visayas and Bicol Region hanggang sa makatawid dito sa may Central and northern Luzon. By Friday nandito na ito sa may West Philippine Sea,” Estareja said.
(By Monday, this LPA may be in the eastern section of Mindanao, moving closer to the Caraga region. We expect two scenarios by Tuesday: From Tuesday to Thursday, it may move toward the eastern parts of the Visayas and Bicol region until it crosses Central and Northern Luzon. By Friday it could be over the West Philippine Sea.)
“Yung ikalawang scenario natin for this low pressure area, is maaaring nandito siya somewhere sa may silangan ng Visayas pagsapit ng Tuesday at from Tuesday all the way hanging sa Friday ay mananatiling malapit ito sa silangan ng Luzon at lilihis ng direksyon papalayo ng ating bansa,” he added.
(The second scenario is it could be somewhere in eastern Visayas by Tuesday and from Thursday all the way from Friday it will move closer to the eastern part of Luzon and move away from the country.)
Estareja said the LPA has a slim chance of becoming a tropical cyclone until the weekend.
Fair Good Friday weather
Meanwhile, the entire country is expected to have generally fair weather with partly cloudy to cloudy skies with chances of isolated rain showers and thunderstorms, according to Pagasa.
Pagasa did not also raise a gale warning over any of the country’s seaboards.
