'Habagat' to bring cloudy skies, showers in most of PH until weekend — Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines — The southwest monsoon locally known as «habagat» is expected to prevail in most parts of the archipelago, bringing overcast skies and scattered rain showers and thunderstorms until the weekend, the state-run weather agency said on Friday.

Weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said habagat would particularly affect Metro Manila, Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan).

The same weather system would also bring partly cloudy to cloudy skies over Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the Pagasa forecaster said.

Based on its data and analysis, the state weather bureau said in its 5 a.m. advisory that it has not monitored any tropical cyclone or low pressure area forming or entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) in the coming days.

After Typhoon «Aghon,» the first storm to hit the country this year, Pagasa predicted that 13 to 16 tropical cyclones would enter PAR until end of the year.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country would experience isolated downpours or thunderstorms within the next 24 hours due to the localized thunderstorms, the weather agency said.