Communities near the western seaboards of Southern Luzon, Palawan, Visayas, and Mindanao have been warned against strong winds associated with the southwest monsoon.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued the advisory in a gale warning after monitoring a new low- pressure area (LPA) at about 940 kilometers east of Visayas islands.

PAGASA added that the presence of the weather system will affect the surge of “hanging habagat,” which will continue to bring scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms over the cloudy skies in Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The weather bureau noted that rains will become widespread in the western sections of Southern Luzon and Western Visayas that could trigger flashfloods, mudflows, and landslides in these regions.

At the same time, the national meteorological agency also advised fishing boats and other small sea vessels not to venture out into the sea while weather forecasters expect winds with 55 to 65 kph strength to affect Visayas and Mindanao.

PAGASA also alerted larger seacraft against waves as big as four to five meters high that makes sea conditions from rough to very rough in the seaboards of Mindoro, Palawan, and Western Visayas, which will also have occasional rains.

Seafarers have also been warned of the same threats as PAGASA expected scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms to prevail over the seaboards of Centeral and Eastern Visayas as well as the entire Mindanao.

But the weather office assured that the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to at times cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or the evening.