‘Ulysses’ weakens as it moves out of RP

MANILA, Philippines - Tropical storm "Ulysses" (international code name Dolphin) weakened further as it continued to move away from Philippine territory, state weather forecasters said Wednesday afternoon. In its 5 p.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said "Ulysses" was 1,070 kms east of Basco, Batanes as of 2 p.m. However, the weather bureau also said an inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is now affecting Southern Mindanao and may bring rains to the region. "Eastern and Southern Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms which may trigger flashfloods and landslides while the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms," it said. Pagasa said "Ulysses" packed maximum sustained winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of 100 kph and is expected to move north-northeast at 17 kph. Meanwhile, the weather bureau said moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and Visayas and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate blowing from the northeast to north with slight to moderate seas except during thunderstorms, it added. - GMANews.TV