Heavy rain pours over Natalio Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City on Wednesday afternoon, June 26, 2019. | Benjie Talisic
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Days will be partly cloudy with some sunny periods while nights will be cold and wet.
This is the forecast of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in Central Visayas (Pagasa-7) in the next few days until Friday, June 30.
According to Joemar Eclarino, weather specialist of Pagasa-7, the southwest monsoon or the habagat dominates the weather system in Central Visayas bringing with it isolated thunderstorms and scattered rainshowers.
He said people should prepare for moderate to heavy rainfall because it could cause lightning strikes and flash flood.
Read more: LPA east of Philippines now a tropical depression
Tropical Depression (TD) “Dodong,” which is currently 750 kilometers east northeast of Basco, Batanes is no longer posing a risk to Central Visayas, but it still has a slight pull to the habagat causing more frequent rains and thunderstorms.
TD Dodong is expected to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) by Thursday morning, June 27, and its effect on the habagat will also loosen.
The southwest winds or hanging habagat is also causing strong winds in the region and Pagasa-7 warns of these strong winds that may be strong enough to cut twigs or thin branches from trees.
Strong winds coupled with severe rainfall has the possibility of forming hailstorms, waterspouts, and whirlwinds.
Aside from TD Dodong, Pagasa is currently monitoring another cloud formation outside the PAR that could eventually turn into a Low Pressure Area (LPA).
Eclarino said that it was not expected to enter the PAR until next week and once it would become a full-blown tropical depression or storm, it would be expected to pull the habagat even further west causing more rainfall and thunderstorms in Central Visayas.
Eclarino encouraged people to check on the thunderstorm advisory of Pagasa-7 online so they could be updated about the severity of the rain in the next few days. /dbs