Weather: PAGASA monitoring potential cyclone

(Updated 7:00 p.m.) State weather forecasters are keeping track at the Philippine Sea a new potential cyclone, a low-pressure area (LPA) which may enter Philippine territory on Saturday. Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecaster Mario Palafox said their models show the LPA has little chance of becoming a cyclone. "Inaasahan nating pwede ito mabuo at pumasok sa Philippine area of responsibility by Saturday. Sa ngayon di natin inaasahang maging bagyo ito," Palafox said in an interview over radio dzBB. Should it still become a cyclone while in Philippine territory, it will be locally codenamed "Sendong," Palafox said. Meanwhile, PAGASA said an inter-tropical convergence zone may bring scattered rain over Luzon and Visayas, and flash floods and landslides over Central and Southern Luzon. In its 5 p.m. bulletin, PAGASA said the shallow LPA was embedded along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Luzon and Visayas. "Luzon and Visayas will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms becoming cloudy with widespread rains over the eastern sections of Central and Southern Luzon which may trigger flashfloods and landslides," it said. Earlier, PAGASA forecaster Jun Galang said the country can expect a rainy weekend, with only a few breaks. Galang said this is despite the departure of a shallow low-pressure area from Philippine territory. He said there is still no sign of another low-pressure area (LPA) that was earlier expected to bring rain to the country during the weekend. For Friday, Galang said there may be heavy rain in the eastern sections of Central and Southern Luzon. "This may trigger flash floods and landslides," he said. - VVP/ELR, GMA News