Severe tropical storm “Nock-ten”, locally named as Nina, is promising a gloomy, wet Christmas among Filipinos who have long been waiting for the Holidays
Two days before the much-awaited Christmas eve, severe tropical storm “Nock-ten”, locally named as Nina, has crossed the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) to warn the Filipino people of a wet, gloomy yuletide celebration.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) confirmed that Nina has entered PAR on early December 23, Friday morning.
According to the state weather bureau, Nina is packing maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour and gustiness of 120 kilometers per hour.
It was last spotted at 960 kilometers, east of Guiuan town in Eastern Samar province adn was moving west-northwest at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour.
According to the United States Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), Nina may directly hit Metropolitan Manila on december 26, Monday.
Based on the forecast track of the state weather agency and other international weather bureaus, there is a strong possibility that severe tropical storm Nina will hit the Bicol region and is likely to make landfall on Sunday, Christmas day.
It was forecast that Bicol region and Eastern Visayas region will experience cloudy weather with light to moderate rains on December 24 while rainfall is also forecast to be stronger in Samar and Bicol regions over the Christmas weekend.
Nina is expected to cross southern Luzon and its central part may pass through Quezon province, Laguna and Batangas provinces before it hits Metro Manila.
There will also be light rains in the regions of Ilocos, Cordillera, and Cagayan Valley, still due to northeast monsoon, locally known as Hangin Amihan.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country will have just isolated rainshowers.
According to Pagasa, storm warning signals may be raised starting on the eve of Friday. The agency is expected to issue more weather bulletins as Nina comes closer.
Severe tropical storm Nina is likely to spoil the “happy Christmas” that a majority of Filipinos are expecting this 2016.
According to the results of the latest poll, conducted from December 3 to 6 and released on December 22, revealed that 72 percent, or three in every four, of Filipinos are looking forward to a merry Christmas, saying that “it is better than to receive” gifts this holiday season.
This is the third highest expectancy result since the 82 percent recorded in 2002 and 77 percent in 2003.
