Cyclone intensifies, may enter PHL Sunday night

The tropical cyclone nearing Philippine territory intensified into a tropical storm but remained outside Philippine territory as of Sunday morning. Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecaster Elvie Enriquez said the cyclone, with international code name Songda, may enter the Philippine area of responsibility Sunday night or early Monday, radio dzBB reported. In its 5 a.m. bulletin, PAGASA said the storm was 1,160 km east of Northern Mindanao. PAGASA had said the storm may enter Philippine territory between Saturday night and Sunday. However, PAGASA said scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms still loom over Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao due to an inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ). "Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms. The rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening," it said. Meanwhile, Philippine-based weather site Typhoon2000 said that as of 6 a.m. Sunday, the storm had winds of up to 65 kph and was moving west-northwest at 9 kph. — LBG, GMA News