'Henry' now a storm, enters PAR

MANILA, Philippines — Tropical cyclone "Henry" has intensified into a storm as it entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility, the state weather bureau said Friday.

In its latest weather bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the eye of the storm was located at 890 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar at 7 a.m.

It is packed with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 80 kph.

Forecast to move north northwest at 7 kph, Henry is expected to be at 800 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar by tomorrow morning and at 860 kilometers east of Casiguran, Aurora by Sunday morning. By Monday morning, it would be at 600 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes.

PAGASA said moderate to heavy rainfall amount (7.5 to 15 millimeters per hour) has been estimated within the 400-kilometer diameter of the tropical storm.

Henry will not yet affect any part of the country, according to the weather bureau.

Meantime, Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and the provinces of Mindoro and Palawan will have occasional rains. The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest to southeast will prevail over Luzon.

Winds coming from the southwest will prevail over the rest of the country, which will have moderate to rough seas.