Fishermen warned vs rough seas

MANILA, Philippines - The state weather bureau yesterday advised fishermen not to venture into the seas of Luzon and the eastern sections of the Visayas and Mindanao as these would be “rough to very rough” due to the surge of the northeast monsoon.

In an advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said strong to gale force wind is expected to affect the seaboards of Luzon, eastern Visayas and eastern Mindanao in the next 24 hours.

It said the seaboards of northern, central and southern Luzon would have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rains and the sea conditions in these areas would be rough to very rough with wave heights expected to reach 3.7 to six meters.

On the other hand, the eastern seaboard of the Visayas and Mindanao would have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and isolated thurnderstorms.

These areas would have rough to very rough seas with wave heights of 3.7 to five meters, Pagasa said.

“Fishing boats and other small seacraft are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” Pagasa said.

Meanwhile, the weather agency said southern Luzon and the eastern sections of northern and central Luzon would experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered light rains, while Mindanao would have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms.

The rest of the country would be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms, it added.

“Moderate to strong northeasterly winds would prevail throughout the archipelago and the coastal waters would be moderate to rough,” Pagasa said.