Pagasa: Typhoon ‘Melor’ dictating path of ‘Pepeng’

Barring any sudden change in its path, typhoon "Melor" is likely to make a brief course into Philippine territory, entering late Monday and exiting on Tuesday. Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) forecaster Rene Paciente said Melor is not likely to affect the country directly, but it is dictating the movement of typhoon "Pepeng" (Parma). "Pagpasok ng Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), ang bagong bagyo ay kikilos west northwest, northwest, tapos papunta sa Southern Japan. Ayon sa curvature nito, ang bagyo ay papasok ngayong araw na ito at lalabas bukas din mula sa PAR (Once it enters the Philippine area of responsibility, it will move west northwest, northwest, then head for Southern Japan. The curvature shows it will enter Philippine territory today, then leave Tuesday)," Paciente said in an interview on dzRH radio early Monday. He said Melor will be named "Quedan" once it enters the PAR, adding that it is now "controlling" the movement of typhoon Pepeng (Parma), which is moving west slowly over northern Luzon. Paciente said that while Melor and Pepeng are interacting, the former has the more powerful winds, as the latter had already weakened. Pepeng's location In its 5 a.m. advisory, Pagasa said Pepeng was 220 km north northwest of Laoag City as of 4 a.m., with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 150 kph. Pepeng is forecast to remain almost stationary and be 260 km north northwest of Laoag City Tuesday morning, and 250 km northnorthwest of Laoag City Wednesday morning. By Thursday morning it is expected to be 230 km northwest of Laoag City. Ilocos Norte remained under Storm Signal No. 3. Under Storm Signal No. 2 are: * Batanes Group * Northern Cagayan * Babuyan Islands * Calayan Islands * Ilocos Sur * Abra * Kalinga * Apayao Under Storm Signal No. 1 are: * Rest of Cagayan * La Union * Benguet * Mt. Province Pagasa on Sunday warned residents living near Pepeng's path to stay alert as the typhoon might return as an effect of its interaction with typhoon Melor. - GMANews.TV