By el Amigo
MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Champi may enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Tuesday, Oct. 20, while its trough could bring rain to parts of the Visayas and Mindanao beginning Monday, Oct. 19, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.
In its latest advisory, PAGASA reported that Champi had intensified into a typhoon as of 2 a.m. Saturday, packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour and gusts reaching 170 kph.
The weather system was located 2,685 kilometers east of Eastern Visayas, moving west-northwestward at 25 kph.
Meanwhile, three weather systems are influencing conditions across the country this weekend.
The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is expected to bring cloudy skies, scattered rains and thunderstorms to Mindanao, Western Visayas, the Negros Island Region, Cebu and Palawan. Other parts of the Visayas may experience isolated rain showers or thunderstorms.
The easterlies will bring scattered rains and thunderstorms to the Bicol Region, the rest of MIMAROPA, Quezon and Aurora. Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon may experience isolated showers or thunderstorms.
Batanes and the Babuyan Islands will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated light rains due to the northeasterly windflow.
PAGASA said light to moderate winds and slight to moderate seas would prevail over most of the country. No gale warning was in effect as of Saturday morning.
ia/xf
