BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines– Typhoon Rolly continues to intensity as it moves Westward over the Philippine Sea, state weather bureau PAGASA said in its weather bulletin today 11 a.m.
Rolly is forecast to move west-southwestward this afternoon until Saturday evening, and is expected to turn west-northwestward as it moves over the sea off the coast of Bicol Region towards the eastern coast of Aurora-Quezon area.
Rolly has maximum sustained winds of 165 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 205 km/hour.
The center of the eye of the tropical storm is likely to make landfall over the Aurora-Quezon area on Sunday evening or Monday early morning.
The typhoon is forecast to continuously intensify over the Philippine Sea and is likely to make landfall at peak intensity of 175-185 km per hour.
Today, the trough of the typhoon will bring light to moderate with at times heavy rains over Bicol Region, Visayas, Caraga, Northern Mindanao, and Zamboanga Peninsula.
The typhoon will likely bring heavy to intense rains over Northern and Central Luzon and Bicol Region, especially those areas along the track of “ROLLY”, beginning on Saturday or Sunday.
No locality is currently under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) #1.
However, in anticipation of the arrival of strong breeze to near-gale conditions due to Rolly, TCWS #1 may be raised over several provinces in the Bicol Region this afternoon.
Given that it is likely for this typhoon to continue intensifying prior to landfall, the highest possible TCWS that will be raised throughout the passage of this typhoon will be TCWS #3 or #4 (associated with destructive to very destructive typhoon-force winds).
Rough to very rough seas (2.8 to 4.5 m) will be experienced over the seaboards of Northern Luzon and the eastern seaboards of Central and Southern Luzon. A Gale Warning is in effect for these waters. As such, sea travel is risky over these areas, especially for mariners of small seacrafts.
Moderate to rough seas (1.2 to 2.5 m) will be experienced over the eastern seaboards of Visayas and Mindanao and the remaining seaboards of Luzon. Mariners of small seacrafts are advised to take precautionary measures when venturing out to sea. Inexperienced mariners should avoid navigating in these conditions.
Earlier tropical storm Atsani has been monitored outside PAR and was estimated at 2,150 km East of Mindanao (10.5 ºN, 145.1 ºE).
It has maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 80 km/h.
It is moving west-northwestward at 35 km/h.
Based on all available meteorological data, this tropical cyclone is likely to enter the PAR on Sunday or Monday.
However, it is less likely to bring severe weather over any locality of the country over the next 3 days.
Once inside the PAR, “Atsani” will be assigned the local name “Siony”.