LPA east of Visayas may become cyclone ‘Chedeng’

MANILA — State weather bureau PAGASA on Monday stated that a low pressure area east of Visayas could develop into a tropical cyclone in the coming days.

There is a high chance that the LPA last spotted 970 kilometers east of Eastern Visayas will become a tropical depression in the next 24 to 48 hours, PAGASA weather specialist Daniel James Villamil said in an update. 

The weather system will be called “Chedeng”—the country’s third tropical cyclone this year.

Villamil said it will generally move northwest toward Northern Luzon, then it will recurve away from the country.

PAGASA is also monitoring another LPA, which was last spotted 910 km west of Northern Luzon. It has a low chance of becoming a tropical cyclone.

The two LPAs currently have no direct impacts on the country.

“It is the southwest monsoon causing cloudy weather, scattered rain showers and thunderstorms in the western part of the country, particularly in the Palawan area,” Villamil said.

PAGASA declared last week the start of the rainy season in the Philippines.

An average of 20 cyclones enter or develop within the Philippine area of responsibility every year, destroying homes and crops and killing hundreds to thousands.