After Typhoon "Pepito" (international name "Saudel") left the country, the state weather bureau is monitoring another potential storm brewing near the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Friday morning.

Weather specialist Loriedin Dela Cruz of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the low pressure area (LPA) was at the boundary of PAR at 1,145 kilometers east of Mindanao as of 4 a.m., Friday.

Dela Cruz said the weather disturbance is expected to enter the country within the day and will likely intensify into a tropical depression as it is still moving over Philippine waters.

Should it develop into a storm, it will be locally named "Quinta," the fourth tropical cyclone that entered the country this October after Pepito, which left PAR on Thursday morning.

According to Dela Cruz, the eye of "Pepito" was already 520 kilometers west of Northern Luzon and moving slowly away from PAR.

It is still in the typhoon category as it continued to pack maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 170 kph.

Although "Pepito" is now outside PAR, its trough or extension is still bringing cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms over parts of Luzon particularly Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, Occidental Mindoro, and Palawan.

PAGASA warned residents affected by the trough of the typhoon of possible flash floods or landslides due to scattered light to moderate rains.

In Metro Manila and the rest of the country, partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers will prevail due to localized thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, strong to gale force winds associated with the typhoon and the surge of northeasterly surface winds flow will be experienced over the northern and western seaboards of Luzon.

With this, PAGASA raised a gale warning over the coasts of Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Island, western coast of Batangas, and Palawan.

PAGASA warned that sea travel is risky, especially for small sea crafts, over seaboards where a gale warning was raised due to rough to very rough sea conditions and wave height of up to 5.5 meters.

The country gets an average of 20 tropical cyclones annually, while at least two to three tropical cyclones are likely to enter PAR this month, according to PAGASA.

PAGASA said more rains are expected due to the onset of La Niña.