A rainy New Year's Eve for PHL – PAGASA

Rain looms over parts of the country on the last day of 2011, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Friday.   In its 5 p.m. bulletin, the government-run forecaster said the northeast monsoon is affecting Northern Luzon while a wind convergence is affecting Mindanao.   "Northern and Eastern Luzon will experience mostly cloudy skies with light rains becoming frequent over the eastern sections while the rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rains. Eastern Visayas and Mindanao will have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms," it said.   The rest of Visayas will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms, it added.   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 moderate to occasionally strong coming from the east and northeast with moderate to occasionally rough seas.   Meanwhile, PAGASA said strong to gale-force winds associated with the northeast monsoon may affect the seaboards of Luzon and Visayas.   "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. — VS, GMA News