Southwest monsoon continues affecting Luzon — PAGASA

MANILA — Except for Northern and Central Luzon, most parts of the country will experience fair weather in the next three days, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Sunday.

In an interview, PAGASA weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said that the southwest monsoon or “hangin habagat” continues to be the dominant weather system affecting Luzon.

Quitlong said the country will remain storm-free until Wednesday but the agency continues to monitor the low- pressure area (LPA) outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

He said that due to the effects of “habagat,” it will induce monsoon rains over the Ilocos and Cordillera regions and the provinces of Zambales and Bataan which may trigger flashfloods and landslides.

He added that occasional rains are expected over Cagayan Valley and the rest of Central Luzon while partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the south to southwest with slight to moderate seas.

The state-run weather bureau also issued a gale warning due to the effects of the southwest monsoon as the sea condition will be rough to very rough due to strong to gale force winds expected to affect the seaboard of Northern Luzon and western seaboards of Central Luzon.

”Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” it warned.