2 tropical storms outside PAR monitored

Tropical storm Goni, which is moving toward Taiwan, gained more strength on Sunday and may develop into a typhoon today or tomorrow, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.

The storm has a low chance of making landfall in the country, he said, but it will enhance the southwest monsoon or habagat.

Maintaining its speed and movement, Typhoon Goni will enter PAR by Tuesday afternoon and will be locally named “Ineng”, the ninth tropical cyclone to affect the country this year and second for the month of August.

According to the National Weather Service, as of 7 this morning, the center of Tropical Storm “Goni”, which is the Korean word for swan, was located near latitude 13.2 north and longitude 147.6 east. That’s about 190 miles east of Guam.

The report went on to note: “Forecast data from News 5’s Metra Weatherscape showed that the western section of the archipelago will begin experiencing light to moderate rain on Wednesday, while heavy rain will drench the said areas by Friday and weekend”.

PAGASA is also monitoring another typhoon east of southern Luzon, but said it has a slim chance of entering the country.

Inter-tropical convergence zone or ITCZ will continue to bring cloudy skies, with rain showers across Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

Isolated thunderstorms, meanwhile, will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

It added that light to moderate winds blowing from the southeast to south will prevail over Luzon and coming from the south to southwest over the rest of the country.

The state weather bureau has not issued a gale warning as the fisher folks are safe to venture into the seas.