PAGASA: LPA to bring rains to most parts of RP

A low-pressure area south of Tacloban City may bring rains to Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, state weather forecasters said Tuesday. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the LPA's chances of becoming a cyclone are lower now since it is moving close to land. "Napakalapit sa land mass kaya paliit nang paliit ang chance maging bagyong tropikal. Gayunpaman di natin ma-discount ang possibility kaya babantayan pa rin natin ang kanyang development," PAGASA forecaster Elvie Enriquez said on dzBB radio. (The LPA is so close to land mass, and its chances of becoming a cyclone are diminishing. But we are not discounting the possibility that it could become a cyclone. We are monitoring it.) Should the LPA become a cyclone, it will be codenamed "Juan," she said. PAGASA said that as of 2 a.m. Tuesday, the LPA was estimated at 60 km south of Tacloban City and embedded along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. "Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms. The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy [weather] with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms," it said in its 5 a.m. bulletin. Light to moderate winds blowing from the Northeast to East will prevail over Luzon and coming from the Northeast to Northwest over the rest of the country. Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate. — LBG, GMANews.TV