MANILA, Philippines - Prepare your thick clothes or jackets as the country braces for chilly nights and brief afternoon rains due to the cooling monsoon winds.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said a lowpressure area (LPA) 90 kilometers north of Borongan, Eastern Samar, will bring widespread rains over Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas, and Palawan.
PAGASA also warned that the rains may trigger flashfloods and landslides in these areas.
The northeast monsoon or hanging amihan continues to prevail across Eastern Luzon, bringing cooler than usual weather in most parts of the country.
Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms.
The rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated light rains.
PAGASA said there is a minimal chance that the LPA will intensify into a cyclone.
It also warned the public against strong to gale force winds associated with the surge of northeasterly winds affecting the seaboards of Luzon.
The seaboards of Northern, Central, and Southern Luzon are expected to be rough to very rough.
Fishing boats and other small seacraft are advised not to venture out into the sea, while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves.
In Baguio City, residents are wearing thicker clothes as temperatures have plummeted to 12 degrees Celsius.
Farmers in the mountain resort city and other elevated areas in the Cordilleras fear for their agricultural crops.
The PAGASA reported that the chilly mornings being experienced in Baguio City signal the start of colder days ahead that will continue until February next year.
In Benguet province, the temperatue in high-elevation areas is around 3 to 4 degrees lower than the prevailing temperature in Baguio City, and thus farmers fear that once the temperature goes down further, their crops will be greatly affected by frost bite, locally known as "andap."
Due to the low temperature, water crystals usually form on top of the leaves of leafy vegetables which usually result in burnt leaves once the vegetable is exposed to sunlight. (With a report by Dexter See)
