Rain will continue across the Philippines as the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), northeasterly windflow, and localized thunderstorms persist, the state weather bureau said on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
The ITCZ is a belt of low pressure near the equator where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres meet.
A northeasterly windflow, on the other hand, is a current of air blowing from the northeast, associated with the early stages of the Northeast Monsoon, or Amihan, in the Philippines.
In its latest update, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the ITCZ will bring cloudy skies with scattered rain and thunderstorms over Visayas, Mindanao, and Palawan.
The northeasterly windflow will affect Quezon and Camarines Norte, bringing cloudy skies with rain. Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Norte, Apayao, and Aurora will experience partly cloudy skies with isolated light rain due to the same system.
Meanwhile, Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated showers caused by localized thunderstorms.
Tropical depression
As of 2 a.m. Wednesday, a tropical depression is still being monitored outside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
It was last located 1,985 kilometers east of Luzon, packing maximum winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 70 kph. Its movement was northwestward at 15 kph.
‘It will slightly or somewhat graze our area of responsibility. We are also not ruling out that it may enter our PAR briefly or momentarily and then move away again,’ said Pagasa Weather Specialist Loriedin De La Cruz during the 5 a.m. weather forecast.
She added that the tropical depression is not expected to directly affect the country.