Typhoon may enter Philippines next week

MANILA, Philippines — A tropical storm over the Pacific Ocean may strengthen and enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) next week, the state weather bureau PAGASA said.

PAGASA started monitoring a storm with international name "Bavi" that may arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday or Wednesday, forecaster Jaime Bordales said Friday in a state news report.

There is also the possibility that Bavi may recurve and avoid land.

The storm's estimated location as of Friday morning was at 4,000 kilometers east of Mindanao, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 90 kph. It is also tracking northwest at 25 kph.

Bordales said that the weather disturbance may not affect the country until the weekend.

Once Bavi enters PAR, it will be renamed "Betty," the second tropical cyclone of the year and the first for the month.

The northeast monsoon, meanwhile, continues to affect Northern and Central Luzon, PAGASA said in a 5 a.m. advisory on Friday.

Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region and the province of Aurora will experience cloudy skies with light rains.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms, PAGASA also noted.

Light to moderate winds coming from the northeast will prevail throughout the whole archipelago with slight to moderate seas.