Monsoon to bring cold winds–Pagasa

NO STORM is expected to blow into the country in the remaining days of December, but the surge of the northeast monsoon— cold winds from Siberia—poses a danger to fishing boats and small vessels off the coasts of Luzon, the weather bureau said yesterday.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) issued an advisory cautioning fishermen to be watchful of big waves off the seaboards of northern and Central Luzon and the western and eastern seaboards of southern Luzon.

“Fishing boats and other small seacraft are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted to big waves,” Pagasa said.

Waves between 3.4 and 4.5 meters high are expected in those areas, the weather bureau said.

The strong winds are associated with the surge of the northeast monsoon (locally known as hanging amihan), which continues to affect northern and Central Luzon.

According to Pagasa's 24-hour outlook, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol, and Eastern andWestern Visayas will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms.

Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Cordillera will experience cloudy skies with light rains, while Metro Manila and the rest of the Southern Tagalog region will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated light rains.

“The rest of the country will experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms,” Pagasa said.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and Eastern Visayas and the coastal waters in these areas will be moderate to rough.

In Mindanao, winds coming from the northeast will be light to moderate and the seas will be slight to moderate, Pagasa said.