A Tropical Depression is brewing outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

According to PAGASA weather forecaster Sheilla Reyes, two Low Pressure Areas (LPA) are still being monitored. The one inside PAR, spotted at 420 kilometers (km) east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, is expected to dissipate. However, the other LPA outside PAR may intensify into a Tropical Depression. Reyes said that the LPA was spotted at 1,975 km. east of Mindanao. Based on PAGASA’s analysis, it may develop into a Tropical Depression tomorrow and will be named ‘Basyang’, the country’s second tropical cyclone this 2018. It is forecast to enter PAR on Sunday or Monday.

On Monday evening or early Tuesday, it may hit Northern Mindanao and the southern part of Visayas before heading toward Palawan on Wednesday, February 14. PAGASA is not ruling out the possibility of the cyclone intensifying into a Tropical Storm (a cyclone with winds between 62 to 88 kilometers per hour) before landfall.

Although two weather disturbances surround the country, the Northeast Monsoon remains the dominant weather system. It will bring cloudy skies with scattered rains in the Cagayan Valley Region and Cordillera Administrative Region, while causing partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rains in Ilocos Region. In the rest of the country including Metro Manila, partly cloudy to cloudy skies, or generally fair weather with isolated rain showers will be experienced.

With the surge of Amihan, gale warning is still in effect in the northern and eastern seaboards of Northern Luzon. These include coasts of Batanes, the Babuyan Group of Islands, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan and Isabela. Fishing boats and other small seacraft are prohibited from venturing, while larger sea vessels are alerted against rough to very rough seas.