2 LPAs spotted east of Luzon

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) spotted on Wednesday two low-pressure areas (LPAs) east of Luzon, which are likely to gain strength as the weather disturbances linger over the Philippine Sea.

Pagasa weather forecaster Jori Loiz said both LPAs spotted east of Central Luzon were estimated at 430 kilometers (kms), and 1,030 kms, respectively, at 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

He said an intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) will also continue to bring rains over some parts of the country.

Loiz also said they will continue to monitor the development of LPAs that may possibly merge and intensify into a storm.

If the weather disturbance intensifies into a storm, it will be named “Florita.”

This could be the sixth storm in 2010, and the third for this month, that will affect the country.

According to Robert Sawi, chief of PAGASA’s weather forecasting section, the rains felt in the country are not yet considered as effects of the La Niña phenomenon.

Pagasa earlier pointed out that majority of global weather models are now predicting La Niña conditions could occur in August with a probability of more than 80 percent.

During La Niña conditions, major parts of the country experience near normal to above normal rainfall conditions particularly over the eastern sections of the country.

La Niña conditions also favor tropical cyclone formation over the western Pacific, which tend to increase the number of tropical cyclones.

Based on the Pagasa’s 5 a.m. weather bulletin on Weday, it said the whole country will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms becoming cloudy with occasional to frequent rains over extreme Northern Luzon and Eastern Luzon.

Meanwhile, light to moderate winds blowing from the northeast to northwest will prevail over Luzon, and coming from the southeast to southwest over the rest of the country.

Pagasa also said coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate.