MANILA, Philippines — A low-pressure area is “highly likely” to form in the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) in the coming days and may start affecting the country by Sunday, Nov. 23, the state weather bureau said in its latest tropical cyclone threat potential forecast.
In the forecast bulletin on Friday afternoon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said a tropical cyclone-like vortex (TCLV) may form in the southeastern part of the PAR between Nov. 21 and 27.
“It now has a higher chance of becoming a low-pressure area,” Pagasa specialist John Manalo further explained in the agency’s weather forecast later on Friday.
“The earliest it can affect the country, especially the northeastern part of Mindanao as well as Eastern Visayas, is by Sunday afternoon. It will be felt the most starting Monday and in the days afterward,” he added.
If the TCLV develops into a tropical cyclone inside PAR, it will be given the local name Verbena.
Pagasa added that the TCLV may cross through the country and emerge over the West Philippine Sea by the week of Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, by which point a second TCLV may form in the eastern part of the state weather agency’s monitoring domain.
However, the second TCLV has a “low chance” of developing into a tropical cyclone, Manalo noted. /mr