'Leon' leaves PAR but continues to enhance 'habagat'


Tropical storm “Leon” (international name "Noul”) has left the Philippine Area of Responsibility but continues to enhance the southwest monsoon or “habagat,” bringing rains in parts of the country this weekend.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the habagat, the weather system associated with the rainy season, will continue to affect Luzon and Visayas.

PAGASA said cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms will prevail over Mimaropa (Region 4-B), Bicol region, Western Visayas, Batangas, and Quezon.

The State weather bureau warned residents in these areas that flash floods and landslides due to scattered to at times heavy rains are possible.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have localized thunderstorms and partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers, PAGASA said.

PAGASA Weather Specialist Raymond Ordinario said Leon which left PAR thursday was last spotted 1,010 kilometers west of Central Luzon, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 105 kph, moving west at 20 kph towards Vietnam.