Typhoon Ferdie intensifies further, Signal 1 up over north Luzon islands

Typhoon Ferdie (international name Meranti) intensified yet again as Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal 1 was raised over the Batanes and Babuyan Islands, weather service PAGASA reported in a Monday morning bulletin.

At 4 a.m., Ferdie was 1,015 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, with maximum winds of 165 kilometers per hour near the center which can gust up to 200 kph. Estimated rainfall amount within the typhoon's 300 km diameter was from moderate to heavy.

Ferdie was moving west-northwest at 22 kph and, according to PAGASA's projections, the typhoon will be:

• 550 kms east-northeast of Aparri, Cagayan by Tuesday morning,
• 35 kms northwest of Itbayat, Batanes by Wednesday morning, and
• 600 kms northwest of Itbayat, Batanes and outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Thursday morning.

On Monday,  Mindanao, the Visayas, the Bicol Region, and Palawan can expect cloudy conditions accompanied with light to moderate rain and thunderstorms.

The rest of the country will meanwhile be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

Winds will be moderate to occasionally strong from the southwest to southeast over Luzon, where coastal waters will be moderate to occasionally rough.

Winds elsewhere will be light to moderate from the southwest to west with slight to moderate seas. — DVM, GMA News