Signal No. 1 still over Kalayaan Islands as Verbena moves over West PH Sea

The Kalayaan Islands are still under Signal No. 1 as Severe Tropical Storm Verbena maintained its strength and moved westward over the West Philippine Sea, the state weather bureau said late Wednesday evening.

In PAGASA’s 11 p.m. tropical cyclone bulletin, Verbena was estimated to be 215 km north northeast of Pag-asa Island, Kalayaan, Palawan.

It is packing maximum sustained winds of 95 km/h near the center and gusts of up to 115 km/h as it moved westward at 20 km/h.

On Thursday, the surge of the Northeast Monsoon and Verbena will bring gusty conditions reaching strong to gale-force strength over Batanes, Cagayan, Apayao, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Zambales, Bataan, Lubang Island, and Palawan, which are not under any wind signal.

Verbena is forecast to move generally westward over the West Philippine Sea from tonight until Thursday and pass north of the Kalayaan Islands.

It is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by tonight or early Thursday morning. Verbena will then decelerate significantly and move slowly west southwestward until Friday morning or afternoon.

The severe tropical storm is then forecast to turn north northwestward while still moving slowly from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, before turning west southwestward for the rest of the forecast period.

“Verbena is forecast to continue intensifying within the next 48 hours due to favorable environment. Afterwards, the surge of the Northeast Monsoon will result in a slight weakening trend for the rest of the forecast period,” PAGASA said. — JMA, GMA Integrated News