Tropical Storm Florita

A NEW tropical storm, codenamed "Florita," has entered the Philippine area,the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Monday. According to Pagasa, Florita, first sighted over the Pacific Ocean, “has accelerated and entered the Philippine area,” and was 1,140 kilometers east of Central Luzon as of 10 a.m. The storm was moving west northwest at 19 kilometers per hour, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center with gustiness of up to 90 kph. No public storm signals have been raised but Pagasa said the weather disturbance will “continue to enhance the southwest monsoon, which may bring moderate to heavy rains over Central and Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.” The weather bureau said sea conditions on the northern seaboards of Luzon will be rough to very rough while the western seaboards of Luzon and the Visayas will be moderate to rough. It warned fishing boats and other small sea craft in these areas from venturing out and alerted larger vessels against moderate to high waves. On Tuesday, Pagasa predicted Florita to be 820 kilometers east southeast of Aparri, Cagayan, moving to 540 kilometers east northeast of Aparri or 490 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes on Wednesday. http://newsinfo.inq7.net/breakingnews/metroregions/view_article.php?article_id=9042