Pagasa Mactan: High chances of rain for Metro Cebu this weekend

Screenshot of the HIMAWARI-8, a geo-stationary weather satellite used by Pagasa for real time weather forecasting.| Wenilyn Sabalo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Metro Cebu will continue to experience generally fair weather from Thursday until Friday, Feb. 16-17, 2023, before it could expect a mostly cloudy to cloudy sky condition during the weekend.

This is according to the latest extended weather forecast of the state weather bureau, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Atmospheric Services Administration (Pagasa), stationed in Mactan.

In an interview with CDN Digital on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, Jhomer Eclarino, Pagasa-Mactan weather specialist, said Cebu would most likely experience scattered rains and thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 18-19, brought by the trough of a Low-Pressure Area inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), and the prevailing northeast monsoon.

Metro Cebu is also most likely to experience moderate to strong winds and moderate to rough sea conditions with average wave height of 1.3 to 3.3 meters.

The LPA inside PAR was last spotted at 750 km East of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.

“So far, ang atong analysis within 24 hours is lesser ang chance pa gihapon na mo-develop into a Tropical Cyclone, but wala gi rule out nga ma develop siya into one,” he said.

(So far, in our analysis that within 24 hours there is a lesser chance that a tropical cyclone will develop, but we still are not ruling out that this will develop into one.)

“This weekend, padayon lang ta mag monitor sa atong latest weather update. Labi na katong mga identified nga mga vulnerable areas sa flash flood and landslide,” he added.

(This weekend, we will continue to monitor our latest weather update. Especially those areas that are identified as vulnerable areas for flashfloods and landslides.)

Caution is particularly important as more rains have been recorded in January this year compared to the average or normal rain fall amount for the month.

Eclarino said the average rainfall for January was at 135.1 millimeters (mm.), but the Pagasa-Mactan logged an above normal rainfall amount last month at 199.7 mm.

Meanwhile, the average temperature this weekend is at 25-29 degrees Celsius, while the heat index is expected to be 32 degrees Celsius, or under extreme caution category.

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