Pagasa: Storm 'Linfa' to enter RP territory Saturday

MANILA, Philippines - A tropical storm outside the Philippines since Thursday is expected to pass through Philippine territory Saturday but is not likely to affect any part of the country, state weather forecasters said Friday. Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecaster Mario Palafox said the storm (international name "Linfa") won’t make a landfall and would likely head toward Taiwan. "Inaasahan natin sa Sabado ng umaga pumasok ito sa boundary natin…. Ito ay kapantay ng Laoag. So kung papasok ito, sa may malapit sa Taiwan. Walang tatamaan sa ating area of responsibility, malayo sa kalupaan," Palafox said in an interview on dzBB radio. [We expect it to enter Philippine territory Saturday morning. But we expect it to head for Taiwan. It won't hit any part of our area of responsibility. It's too far from land.] He also said an active low-pressure area in Philippine territory is on its way out but is enhancing the monsoon trough. Pagasa said Linfa was estimated at 400 km west of northern Luzon as of 2 a.m., with maximum sustained winds of 65 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph. It said Linfa is forecast to remain quasi-stationary, but will enhance the surge of the southwest monsoon. Meanwhile, Pagasa said the ALPA in Philippine territory was estimated at 510 km northeast of Basco, Batanes and may bring flash floods and landslides to parts of northern and Central Luzon. "The western sections of Northern and Central Luzon will experience monsoon rains which may trigger flash floods and landslides," it said. It said the rest of Luzon will have occasional rains while Western Visayas will be mostly cloudy with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms. The rest of the country will experience partly cloudy to at times cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening. Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over Luzon and Visayas with moderate to rough seas. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate blowing from the south and southwest with slight to moderate seas except during thunderstorms. Meanwhile, Pagasa warned seagoing vessels the surge of the southwest monsoon enhanced by "Linfa" will affect the western seaboards of Northern and Central Luzon. "Fishing boats and other small seacraft are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger seacraft are alerted against big waves," it said. - GMANews.TV