Tropical depression to enter the PAR on Sunday as TS Paeng

A tropical depression was expected to intensify into Tropical Storm Paeng when it entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Sunday, weather service PAGASA reported on Friday.

As of a 4 p.m., the weather system was still a tropical depression 2,175 kilometers east of southern Luzon.

The tropical depression had 55 kilometer per hour wind, which could gust up to 65 kph, and was moving north-northwest at 10 kph.

Once inside PAR and once it intensifies into TD Paeng, the weather system could also further intensify into a typhoon which could affect extreme northern Luzon Friday next week.

Meanwhile, with the weather system still outside the country, southern Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao would be under the influence of the Intertropical Covergence Zone (ITCZ).

Scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms could thus be expected over the entire Visayas; and the Mimaropa, Calabarzon, Bicol, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, and Caraga Regions.

The rest of the country could meanwhile expect isolated rainshowers from localized thunderstorms. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News