New typhoon may enter PAR Tuesday or Wednesday

MANILA,
Oct. 7 (PNA) -- The tropical storm outside the country has intensified
into a typhoon category and is expected to enter the Philippine Area of
Responsibility (PAR) by Tuesday evening or Wednesday, according to
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration.In an interview, PAGASA weather observer Benjie
Depas said that as of 4 a.m. the typhoon with international name
Vongfong was located based on all available data at 1,700 km east of
Northern Luzon (16.5ºN, 138.0ºE) with maximum winds of 120 kph and
gustiness of up to 150 kph. It is forecast to move west northwest at 25
kph.He said that once it enters the country, it will be locally
named Ompong” -- the 15th tropical cyclone to enter the Philippines
this year and second for the month of October.He said the coming
tropical cyclone is expected to follow the track of typhoon Neneng and
is forecast to exit the PAR within the next 24 hours and move toward the
southern islands of Japan.He added that it is not expected to affect and make landfall in any part of the country.For Tuesday forecast, Depas said Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) continues affecting Mindanao.He
said due to ITCZ, Palawan, Western Visayas and Mindanao will experience
cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms.The
provinces of Cagayan, Apayao and Ilocos Norte will have cloudy skies
with light to moderate rains because of northeastern wind flow.Depas
said the rest of the country including Metro Manila will be partly
cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers due localized thunderstorms.In
its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the
northeast will prevail over the Northern Luzon and its coastal waters
will be moderate to rough.Light to moderate winds coming from the
northeast to northwest will prevail over the rest of Luzon and coming
from the southwest to west over the rest of the country with slight to
moderate seas.The state weather bureau also issued gale warning
as strong to gale force winds associated with the northeasterly surface
windflow is expected to affect the seaboards of Northern Luzon and the
eastern seaboard of Central Luzon.”Fishing
boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the
sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” PAGASA
warned. (PNA) JBP/CLTC/JSD