After days of incessant heavy rain and floods, residents in Metro Manila and parts of Luzon may finally expect improving weather starting Thursday afternoon, state weather forecasters said.

 

But the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration warned of possible flash floods and landslides in the western part of Luzon.

 

"Ine-expect natin paganda ang ating weather ... siguro ngayong hapon (We can finally expect the weather to improve, perhaps this afternoon)," PAGASA forecaster Julis Nimes said in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

For Thursday morning, however, she noted rainfall on parts of Montalban in Rizal province, and rain clouds over Central Luzon.

 

PAGASA's 5 a.m. bulletin indicated the southwest monsoon is still affecting Luzon.

 

Earlier, PAGASA said the monsoon slightly weakened after a tropical storm headed for China made landfall on Wednesday.

 

"Luzon will experience occasional rain becoming frequent over the western section which may trigger flash floods and landslides," PAGASA said.

 

It added Mindanao will have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms while Visayas will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms.

 

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over Luzon and Western Visayas and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough.

 

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the south to southwest, making seas slight to moderate.

 

Meanwhile, PAGASA said strong to gale-force winds associated with the southwest monsoon may affect the seaboards of Luzon.

 

"Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves," it said. –KG, GMA News