Most areas in the country can expect fair weather from Friday night to Saturday morning, with Uwan only starting to affect eastern parts of the country by afternoon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
Pagasa Assistant Weather Services Chief Chris Perez, in a briefing on Friday evening, said that only isolated rain showers would be expected on Friday night, but several areas would be under rainfall warnings from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon-particularly the Bicol region provinces of Camarines Sur, Albay, and Catanduanes, which are all under a red rainfall warning.
A red rainfall warning means these areas would receive more than 200 millimeters (mm) of rain.
‘In terms of rainfall, from Friday night to Saturday morning, we are not expecting any significant amount of rain, but from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, we can see that more areas will have a high volume of rain,’ Perez said.
‘Tomorrow afternoon up to Sunday afternoon, more than 200 mm of rain over Camarines Sur, Albay, Catanduanes, and then 100 to 200 mm of rain for areas highlighted by orange, starting from Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Aurora, here in Quezon, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, Masbate, Samar provinces,’ he added.
The following areas are under a yellow rainfall (50 mm to 100 mm rain) warning during the same timeframe:
Apayao
Kalinga
Mountain Province
Ifugao
Nueva Vizcaya
Nueva Ecija
Bulacan
Rizal
Laguna
Marinduque
Romblon
Leyte
Biliran
‘That’s why generally, as I’ve said earlier, from tonight to tomorrow morning we will have generally fair weather, save for isolated thunderstorms,’ Perez noted.
However, from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon, Perez said that the concentration of rain would be over Northern Luzon and some provinces in Central Luzon.
‘Now, from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon, we can see through our forecast track that we expect Uwan to cross the northern and Central Luzon area during this period. That’s why the concentration of rain-more than 200 mm of rain-is expected over Northern Luzon and the provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija,’ he said.
The remaining areas of Central Luzon, along with Metro Manila and Calabarzon, will be under an orange rainfall warning.
Earlier, Pagasa’s weather updates showed that Uwan slightly intensified, now packing maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometers per hour (km/h) near the center and gustiness of up to 135 km/h. It is still outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), at 1,175 kilometers east of Eastern Visayas.
It is moving west at a speed of 25 km/h, and may enter the PAR between Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Uwan is also expected to make landfall over Isabela by Monday, but Perez said at the start of the briefing that other eastern provinces in Luzon-and not only Isabela-should prepare for a possible landfall scenario as the cone of probability still shows that the cyclone may deviate from its current path.
Perez noted that Pagasa’s cone of probability is still huge, which means a southward change would put Bicol Region, particularly Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Southern Luzon, and even Metro Manila in its crosshairs.
A northward movement, meanwhile, may result in Uwan hitting northeastern Cagayan and the extreme northern Luzon area.