IT’S going to be a wet weekend in Cebu as two low pressure areas loom over the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), the state weather bureau warns.
The weather advisory issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) on Friday says two low pressure areas (LPA) were spotted in Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas regions.
Pagasa said the low pressure areas were at 140 kilometers north of Casiguran, Aurora, and at 350 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
The LPA in Samar is bringing cloudy skies with scattered rain showers in Cebu.
Thunderstorms and strong winds are also expected to hit Metro Cebu on Saturday. Pagasa also warns of possible flashfloods and soil erosion.
“There will be heavy rains anytime of the day, like the ones we experienced on Friday. And we can really expect that some areas in Cebu will experience flooding,” said Engr. Oscar Tabada, Pagasa-Mactan regional director.
Light to moderate winds from the northeast to northwest will prevail in Central Visayas.
Coastal waters in Cebu will be slight to moderate.
After Friday’s heavy rains and thunderstorms, Pagasa already recorded 313.2 millimeters of rain volume.
The average rainfall volume for the month of September is 170 millimeters only.
Engr. Al Quiblat of Pagasa-Mactan said better weather conditions can be expected from Sunday to Tuesday.
“There will still be rains, but not as strong as this (Friday’s rain). We will have cloudy to partly cloudy weather condition, which means the sun will show up,” Quiblat explained.
The two low pressure areas also are not likely to develop into tropical cyclones.
“There is only a 35 percent chance that the low pressure areas will get stronger,” Quiblat said.
He added that the frontal system, or the intrusion of cold air, spotted north of the Pacific Ocean, is weakening the strength of the low pressure areas.
“We consider various factors for a low pressure area to enhance into storms. The frontal system, for one, tears the strength of the warm air of the low pressure area,” he said.
For the month of October, Quiblat warned that rain volume is expected to go above normal as well.
Pagasa also revealed that three to five storms are expected to enter PAR before the year ends.
Most of the forecasted strong storms will enter through the Visayas region.