MANILA, Philippines - Tropical storm Haiyan intensified into a typhoon Wednesday morning and is expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday morning, the state weather agency said.
PAGASA weather forecaster Chris Perez said that the weather disturbance was spotted 1,560 kilometers east of Mindanao on Wednesday morning and will be renamed locally as "Yolanda" as this year's 24th tropical cyclone once it reaches the Philippine Area of Responsibility.
Perez said the cyclone is projected to make landfall over Eastern Visayas, specifically in Samar or Leyte on Friday afternoon.
Haiyan, moving westward at 30 kilometers per hour, was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kph and gustiness of up to 150 kph, Perez said.
The Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said Haiyan is likely to reach super typhoon category before making landfall over central Philippines.
While PAGASA does not use the "super typhoon" category, forecasters said Haiyan can intensify with maximum sustained winds of 215 kph before landfall.
Related: Brace for super typhoon Yolanda -Pagasa
The typhoon is expected to sweep across Visayas area. Residents of nearby areas should also expect public storm warning signals to be raised over the region as well, the forecaster said.
The northeast monsoon, meanwhile, will continue bringing cloudy skies over Central Luzon. It may also affect Cagayan Valley, Cordillera and Ilocos with localized rain showers and thunderstorm, PAGASA said in Wednesday advisory.
Metro Manila and the rest of the country will enjoy fine weather for Wednesday, only to be interrupted by isolated rain showers especially in the eastern section.
Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and Western Visayas and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough.
Elsewhere, winds will be blowing from northeast to north with slight to moderate seas.