Severe Tropical Storm “Ofel” (international name: Usagi) further weakened and is now outside of the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), according to PAGASA’s 5 p.m. bulletin on Friday.
However, the state weather bureau said the tropical cyclone could still reenter the area on Friday night.
“Despite exiting the PAR region, a tropical cyclone wind signal may still be raised over the areas of Extreme Northern Luzon,” PAGASA reported.
“Ofel is forecast to further weaken throughout the forecast period due to the increasingly unfavorable environment and interaction with the mountainous terrain of Taiwan,” it added.
Moving north-northwestward at 15 kilometers per hour (kph), the center of its eye was last estimated 205 kilometers west-northwest of Itbayat, Batanes.
It packs maximum sustained winds of 100 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 125 kph.
