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CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu and the entire Visayas are spared from the effects of Typhoon Nika and the tropical depression that formed outside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), the state weather bureau here said.
Engr. Al Quiblat, head of the Visayas station of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa-Visayas), said both Nika and the tropical depression will not affect the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
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In an interview with Cebu-based radio station dyHP on Monday, November 11, Quiblat said Visayas instead will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms due to localized thunderstorms.
The state weather bureau is monitoring a total of three tropical cyclones as of Monday. These are Typhoon Yinxing (formerly Marce), Nika and a tropical depression spotted outside of PAR.
In its latest advisory, Pagasa located Nika, which intensified into a typhoon on Monday, hovering the coastal waters of Dilasag, Aurora.
In addition to Nika, state meteorologists are also closely monitoring the tropical depression located 1,620 kilometers east of Eastern Visayas.
Based on their latest forecast, the tropical depression may enter PAR on Tuesday, November 12 and will be automatically assigned the name ‘Ofel.’
The tropical depression will also likely intensify into a severe tropical storm within the next 48 hours and may reach its peak intensity as a severe storm before making landfall, according to Pagasa.
Its current trajectory showed that it will continue to move west northwestward while over Philippine Sea east of Luzon, the state weather bureau added.
Meanwhile, Pagasa have raised Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) in most parts in northern Luzon, with TCWS No. 4 up in at least six areas, due to the presence of Nika.
See the complete list of TCWS in effect here.