Ompong exits, Mindanao still has cloudy skies, rainshowers

MANILA, Oct. 10 (PNA) -- Typhoon Ompong has weakened further as it continues to move northward over the Philippine Sea, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said on Friday.
In an interview, PAGASA weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said that as of 4 a.m. the eye of Typhoon Ompong?” was located 788 km east of Itbayat, Batanes (21.0ºN, 129.4ºE).
The typhoon's maximum winds of 205 kph on Thursday afternoon has decreased to 180 kph on Friday morning and its gustiness of up to 240 kph has gone down to 220 kph.
He said the weakening of the typhoon is due to cold northeasterly winds coming from mainland China.

He added the typhoon maintained its northward direction but its speed accelerated from 9 kph to 13 kph.
Since the typhoon still not affecting the country and is not expected to make landfall in any part of the country, no public storm warning signal has been raised in any part of the country, Aurelio said.
He added the typhoon's movement will likely follow the track of typhoon Neneng and is expected to exit Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) by Saturday morning or afternoon towards southern Japan.
Once the typhoon exits, Aurelio said they are not expecting any weather disturbance within the next three days.
PAGASA expect two to three tropical cyclone to enter this month.
Aurelio said the next tropical cyclone will be locally named Paeng , the 16th tropical cyclone to enter the country this year.

Every year, an average of about 18 to 20 storms affect the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Aurelio said the agency issued a gale warning as Ompong continues to enhance northeasterly wind flow resulting to rough to very rough sea conditions over the northern and western seaboards of Northern Luzon and the eastern seaboard of Luzon and of Visayas.
Fisher folks and those using small seacrafts are advised not to venture out over the said seaboards, PAGASA warned.

For Friday forecast, Aurelio said that most parts of Visayas and Mindanao will continues to experience cloudy skies with rain showers.
Javier said the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Visayas and Mindanao will bring light to moderate rainshowers over Visayas, Bicol Region, Zamboanga Peninsula and the province of Palawan.
He added due to the northeasterly wind flow, it will bring light to moderate rain showers over Cagayan Valley.
He said that until weekend, the rest of the country including Metro Manila will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers due to localized thunderstorms.
In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast to northwest will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon and coming from the southwest over the rest of the country.
The coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough. (PNA)
JBP/CLTC