Weather: Weekend rain due to isolated thunderstorm

The rain that fell on parts of Metro Manila Sunday night was an isolated thunderstorm, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Monday. In a radio interview, PAGASA forecaster Elvie Enriquez said there is no tropical cyclone near or approaching Philippine territory at this time. "Kahapon sobrang init, noong gabi umulan ... nagkaroon ng local thunderstorm. Sandali lang naman yan," Enriquez said in an interview on dzBB radio. She maintained there is no cyclone approaching Philippine territory as of now. PAGASA forecasters earlier said a cyclone may enter Philippine territory this week. The country is still reeling from the effects of successive tropical cyclones "Pedring" (Nesat), "Quiel" (Nalgae), and "Ramon" (Banyan). "Walang bagyo. So far wala tayong nakikitang anumang weather disturbance sa ating kapuluan (There is no cyclone for now. So far we have not seen any weather disturbance)," Enriquez said. Flash floods, landslides over extreme north Luzon Meanwhile, PAGASA said a wind convergence may bring flash floods and landslides to extreme northern Luzon. "Northern Luzon and Western Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms becoming cloudy with widespread rains over Batanes and Calayan Group of Islands which may trigger flasfloods and landslides," it said in its 5 a.m. bulletin. It said the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms. Likewise, PAGASA said moderate to occasionally strong winds blowing from the northeast and southeast will prevail over northern Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to occasionally rough. — RSJ, GMA News