(UPDATE) TROPICAL Storm Kong-Rey was expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Saturday night or early Sunday morning, the state-run weather bureau said Saturday.
Once it enters the PAR, it will be named "Leon" and it could reach typhoon status by Monday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
"This tropical cyclone is expected to intensify gradually and may reach severe tropical storm category on Sunday. Furthermore, it may also reach typhoon category on Monday," Pagasa said.
"Depending on how close it will be during its recurvature over the Philippine Sea, the outer rainbands of [Leon] may also affect Extreme Northern Luzon. Furthermore, it may also continue to influence the southwesterly wind flow initially triggered by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, which may affect the western section of Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the coming days," it added.
Once Leon reaches the PAR, the weather bureau said the storm's path would be far from the Philippine landmass, but its rain bands could affect Extreme Northern Luzon.
The state weather bureau said on Saturday that although Severe Tropical Storm Kristine was out of the PAR, its trough affected weather in the western section of Southern Luzon, particularly Occidental Mindoro and Palawan.
As of Pagasa's 3 p.m. cyclone monitoring in its 4 p.m. general weather bulletin on Saturday, Kong-Rey or Leon was 1,825 kilometers east of Central Luzon, with maximum sustained winds of 65 km per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 80 kph, with its movement being west-northwestward at 25 kph.
Storm signals for Kristine were lifted on Friday following its exit from the PAR.
"Kristine will continue moving westward over the West Philippine Sea until [Saturday], loop counterclockwise on Sunday and Monday, then move eastward for the remainder of the forecast period. However, this scenario heavily depends on the behavior of the tropical cyclone east of the PAR region and the behavior of other synoptic weather systems surrounding Kristine while over the West Philippine Sea," the state weather bureau said in its 11 p.m. bulletin on Friday.
"This tropical cyclone is forecast to gradually intensify over the West Philippine Sea. While it is likely that the tropical cyclone will remain at severe tropical storm category within the next two days, the chance for it to be upgraded into a typhoon is not ruled out. However, a weakening trend is expected by early next week due to a possible surge of northeasterly wind flow over the West Philippine Sea," it added.
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