No weather disturbance to affect RP as Ramil exits

After weeks of being visited by tropical cyclones, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the country could experience fair weather in the next few days.

Nathaniel Cruz, weather sciences bureau chief, told QTV's Balitanghali Saturday that their monitoring showed no weather disturbance was trailing behind tropical storm Ramil in the Pacific Ocean. Tropical Storm Ramil (Lupit) continues to move slowly away to Japan and is unlikely to make its expected Sunday landfall in northern Luzon. [See: After scare, 'Ramil' spares Luzon, heads for Japan] Cruz said this would mean the country would be free from any low pressure area at least in the next two to three days. "Good news dahil wala tayong nakikitang sama ng panahon na sumusunod (This is a good news for us that we see no weather disturbances aside from Ramil)," Cruz said. But the Pagasa official still advised the public not to let their guards down saying weather activities happening at sea could become unpredictable. Cruz said for the remaining two months of the year, the public could still expect two to three more tropical cyclones to arrive in the country. Annually, the Philippines is visited by between 20 to 21 cyclones. He also said that while Ramil is on its way out of Philippine territory, fisherfolks are still discouraged from setting sail since water in affected areas could still become turbulent. Ramil was last spotted 340 km northeast of Basco, Batanes as of 10 a.m., with maximum sustained winds of 95 kph near center and and gustiness of up to 120 kph. Batanes was placed under Storm Signal No. 2, while Calayan and Babuyan Islands were placed under Storm Signal No. 1 as storm signals elsewhere were lowered. Forecasters said Ramil is currently Japan-bound and is expected to be 230 kms east of Okinawa by Monday. - GMANews.TV