Pagasa alert: Habagat may intensify, cause rough seas in the Visayas starting Tuesday

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A cloud cluster presently outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) may develop into a low pressure area (LPA)  in the next two days and intensify the southwest monsoon or Habagat.

Jhomer Eclarino, a weather specialist in the Mactan station of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said the intensified Habagat may bring strong gale forces and rough seas in the Visayas.

“Habagat may intensify this Tuesday (September 10). So, as it intensifies we can expect rough sea conditions and there may be issuance of gale warnings,” Eclarino told CDN Digital by phone on Sunday afternoon, September 8.

Based on Pagasa’s five-day weather outlook, the sea conditions in the borders of Central Visayas for September 10 to 11 will be moderate to rough, with wave heights ranging from 2.5 to 3.25 meters.

Rough to very rough sea conditions are also expected in Cebu and other parts of Central Visayas by Thursday, September 12. The winds in the Central Visayas areas may blow up to 60 kilometers per hour.

Aside from the Habagat, Eclarino said Cebu and other parts of Central Visayas will continue to experience isolated rainshowers due to localized thunderstorms in the coming week.

In the first week of September (September 1 to 7), Pagasa Mactan  recorded 62.4 millimeters of rainfall or  almost one-third of the normal monthly rainfall volume of 192.1 millimeters.

“There is still a long way to go before the end of September so we can expect that we will have near-normal rainfall for this month,” Eclarino said./elb