Weather Today – July 14, 2015 | “Nangka” moving farther away from PAR

Moving north at 15 kilometers per hour, typhoon “Nangka” is now heading towards the southern part of Japan. PAGASA Weather Forecaster Jun Galang says that though Nangka will no longer enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), it continues to enhance the southwest monsoon or “hanging habagat”.

As habagat prevails, monsoon rains are expected over the Ilocos Region and Benguet province. Rains experienced over the past days or week may have resulted to saturated soil. This condition can trigger flash floods and landslides especially in low-lying and mountainous areas.

Occasional rains are expected over Cagayan Valley, the rest of Cordillera, and the provinces of Zambales and Bataan, while Metro Manila and the rest of the archipelago will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms.

Gale warning is still up over the seaboards of Northern and Central Luzon. Thus, sea travel is risky due to the rough to very rough seas with wave height ranging from 3.4 to 4.5 meters and wind force of 52 to 63 kilometers per hour. These include the northern coasts of Cagayan, Batanes, Calayan, Babuyan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, and the eastern coasts of Cagayan, Isabela and Aurora.

On the other hand, Galang also mentioned that the weather bureau continues to monitor the El Niño phenomenon, which has a 90% chance of intensifying, allowing it to last until the end of this year. Meanwhile, he added that there is an 80% probability that it will likely to continue until next year or by mid-2016. All are advised to monitor updates from PAGASA.