Bavi to enter Philippine area of responsibility tomorrow

MANILA, Philippines - Tropical Storm Bavi, swirling in the Pacific Ocean, is forecast to enter the Philippine area of responsibility tomorrow but is not expected to directly affect any part of the country in the next two to three days, the state weather bureau said yesterday.

Most parts of the country will continue to experience fair weather due to the ridge of a high-pressure area affecting Northern Luzon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.

“This tropical cyclone is still too far to affect any part of the country,” PAGASA said in an advisory.

Until Tuesday, the whole country will experience partly cloudy to at times cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms, it said.

Once Bavi enters the Philippine area of responsibility, it will be locally named Betty, the second tropical cyclone of the year and the first for the month.

As of 10 a.m. yesterday the center of Bavi was spotted at 2,600 kilometers east of Bicol region, packing winds of 85 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph.

It was forecast to move west-northwest at 20 kph.

PAGASA senior weather forecaster Robert Sawi earlier said based on climatological data, tropical cyclones in March usually hit the Bicol-Visayas area.

However, some of the cyclones that enter the Philippine area of responsibility in March veer northward or toward Japan, Sawi said.

PAGASA said sea conditions over the entire archipelago would be generally slight to moderate.