LPA now Tropical Depression Josie, enhancing monsoon

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MANILA, Philippines – The low pressure area (LPA) inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) intensified into a tropical depression on Saturday morning, July 21. It has been given the local name Josie.

Josie is the Philippines’ 10th tropical cyclone for 2018. The country usually gets an average of 20 tropical cyclones per year.

In a bulletin released past 11 am on Saturday, state weather bureau PAGASA said Josie is located 195 kilometers west northwest of Sinait, Ilocos Sur, slowly moving northeast.

The tropical depression has maximum winds of 45 kilometers per hour (km/h) near the center and gustiness of up to 60 km/h.

Signal number 1 is raised over:

• Batanes
• northern Cagayan including the Babuyan Group of Islands
• Ilocos Norte
• northern part of Ilocos Sur
• Apayao
• northern part of Abra

Josie is also enhancing the southwest monsoon or hanging habagat.

Expect moderate to heavy monsoon rain in the Ilocos Region, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, Zambales, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija.

Scattered rainshowers, ranging from light to heavy, will also hit Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and the rest of Central Luzon due to the southwest monsoon.

Areas affected by Josie and the southwest monsoon should be on alert for possible flash floods and landslides. (READ: FAST FACTS: Tropical cyclones, rainfall advisories)

PAGASA also warned that sea travel is risky in the seaboards of Northern Luzon and in the western seaboard of Central Luzon, especially in areas under signal number 1.

Based on its latest forecast track, Josie is expected to leave PAR on Monday morning, July 23. That’s the day of President Rodrigo Duterte’s 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Josie comes on the heels of Severe Tropical Storm Inday (Ampil), which left PAR at 1 am on Saturday. Inday did not make landfall in the Philippines, but it enhanced the southwest monsoon.

PAGASA declared the start of the rainy season last June 8. – Rappler.com