A low pressure area or potential storm in the vast Pacific Ocean is moving closer to the Philippines and could bring rains on Christmas day, the state weather bureau said Thursday.
The weather disturbance spotted 2,000 kilometers off Mindanao might intensify into the country’s 21st storm this year and enter the Philippine area of responsibility before Christmas Eve on Tuesday, said PAGASA weather forecaster Shiela Reyes.
Meanwhile, another LPA located 1,020 kilometers east of Mindanao is unlikely to strengthen into a storm—at least for now —but it can bring heavy rains that can spawn potential floods and landslides in the southern and central Philippines, said Reyes.
Christmas storm “Usman,” one of the deadliest tropical cyclones of 2018, left 156 dead and damaged some 32,000 houses in parts of Luzon and Visayas, according to the disaster agency.
On Thursday, the easterlies or warm winds from the Pacific will bring isolated thunderstorms in Eastern Visayas and Caraga, and partly cloudy to cloudy skies over Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, said the weather bureau.