For the fourth time in a single passage, Tropical Depression Verbena is making landfall across the Philippine archipelago — a reminder that the islands do not merely sit in the path of storms, but absorb them repeatedly, province by province. Moving northwest at 25 kilometers per hour with winds gusting to 90, the system has already crossed Agusan del Sur, Bohol, and Cebu before turning toward Negros, and forecasters expect it to strengthen into a tropical storm before departing Philippine waters by early Thursday. Meanwhile, a separate shear line troubles the north, leaving much of the countr
Tropical Depression 'Verbena' Expected to Make 4th Landfall Over Negros Islands
A system still gathering strength as it bears down on Negros
Mark
So Verbena has already hit three provinces—Agusan del Sur, Bohol, Cebu—and now it's heading for Negros. That's a lot of ground covered for a tropical depression.
Mimi
It is. And what's notable is that it's still strengthening. Right now it's at 55 kph sustained winds, but Pagasa expects it to intensify into a tropical storm before it leaves Philippine waters.
Luke
When you say "intensify," what does that threshold look like? What wind speed marks the jump from tropical depression to tropical storm?
Mimi
A tropical storm has sustained winds of at least 63 kph. Verbena's at 55 right now, so it's close.
Mark
And the timeline—early Thursday morning for exit. That's less than 48 hours from when this report was filed.
Mimi
Yes. It's moving at 25 kph northwest, so it's not dawdling. The Negros Islands are in its direct path.
Luke
I notice the report lists Storm Signal No. 1 across a huge number of areas—the entire Visayas, chunks of Mindanao, multiple provinces in Luzon. That's a lot of territory under alert. Is that typical for a tropical depression, or does this one have unusual reach?
Mimi
Storm signals are issued based on wind speed thresholds and proximity. Signal No. 1 means winds of 30 to 60 kph are expected. Given Verbena's current strength and the broad area it's moving through, that coverage makes sense.
Mark
What about the shear line affecting the north—Metro Manila and those regions? Is that connected to Verbena, or separate?
Mimi
Separate system entirely. It's a convergence of warm and cold air masses. It's bringing scattered rains and thunderstorms to northern areas while Verbena dominates the central and southern Philippines.
Luke
So residents in Manila are dealing with one weather system while people in Negros are bracing for another. That's two different stories happening at once.
Mimi
Exactly. The country's getting hit from multiple directions meteorologically.
Mark
By Thursday morning, Verbena will be gone from Philippine waters. What happens after that—does the system dissipate, or does it continue elsewhere?
Luke
The report doesn't say. It only tracks it to the edge of the Philippine Area of Responsibility. Where it goes after that isn't covered here.
Le Pouls
- Verbena has struck three provinces in succession and is now bearing down on the Negros Islands for a fourth landfall, compressing the window for communities to prepare.
- Storm Signal No. 1 stretches across a vast arc of the country — from Mindanao's northern coast through the Visayas and up into Luzon — placing millions of Filipinos under active weather alert simultaneously.
- Forecasters warn the system is still intensifying, expected to reach tropical storm strength before it exits the Philippine Area of Responsibility by early Thursday morning.
- A separate shear line, independent of Verbena, is driving cloudy skies, scattered rains, and thunderstorms across Metro Manila and northern Luzon, compounding the nation's weather burden.
- The dual weather systems mean unsettled conditions will persist across much of the Philippines through the coming days, with no immediate clearing in sight for either the north or the battered central regions.
For the fourth time in a single passage, Tropical Depression Verbena is making landfall across the Philippine archipelago — a reminder that the islands do not merely sit in the path of storms, but absorb them repeatedly, province by province. Moving northwest at 25 kilometers per hour with winds gusting to 90, the system has already crossed Agusan del Sur, Bohol, and Cebu before turning toward Negros, and forecasters expect it to strengthen into a tropical storm before departing Philippine waters by early Thursday. Meanwhile, a separate shear line troubles the north, leaving much of the country caught between two distinct weather forces at once — a condition that speaks to the archipelago's enduring vulnerability to the rhythms of the Pacific.
Tropical Depression Verbena was churning over coastal Cebu on Tuesday, already having crossed Agusan del Sur, Bohol, and Cebu before setting its course toward the Negros Islands — a fourth landfall that forecasters at the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration considered all but certain. The system was moving northwest at 25 kilometers per hour, carrying maximum sustained winds of 55 kph and gusts reaching 90 kph near its center.
Weather specialist Chenel Dominguez described a storm still building in strength, one the agency expected to intensify into a full tropical storm before exiting the Philippine Area of Responsibility by early Thursday morning. In the meantime, Storm Signal No. 1 remained hoisted across a wide band of the country — spanning provinces in Mindanao, the Visayas, and reaching up into Luzon, covering areas from Dinagat Islands and Surigao del Norte in the south to Occidental Mindoro, Romblon, and Masbate in the north.
Beyond Verbena's reach, a separate shear line was generating its own disruptions across the northern Philippines. The convergence of warm and cold air masses brought cloudy skies, scattered rains, and isolated thunderstorms to Metro Manila, the Cordillera, Central Luzon, and the Calabarzon provinces, as well as parts of Cagayan Valley. The northeast monsoon, the amihan, meanwhile kept the rest of Luzon under overcast skies with intermittent light rains.
With Verbena pressing northwestward and the shear line persisting in the north, much of the Philippines faced the prospect of unsettled weather stretching through the days ahead — a country holding its breath across two fronts at once.
Tropical Depression Verbena was churning over the coastal waters of Pinamungahan in Cebu on Tuesday, having already crossed three provinces and now bearing down on the Negros Islands for what forecasters expected would be its fourth landfall. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the country's state weather agency, tracked the system moving northwest at 25 kilometers per hour with maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour near its center and gusts reaching 90 kilometers per hour.
The storm had already left its mark across Agusan del Sur, Bohol, and Cebu before turning its path toward Negros. Weather specialist Chenel Dominguez of Pagasa described a system still gathering strength, one that forecasters believed would intensify into a full tropical storm before departing Philippine waters. The agency projected Verbena would exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by early Thursday morning.
Storm Signal No. 1 remained in effect across a broad swath of the country's central and southern regions. In the Visayas, the alert covered Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo, Guimaras, both Negros provinces, Siquijor, Cebu, Bohol, Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran, Leyte, and Southern Leyte. The same warning extended across Mindanao's northern reaches—Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, the northern portion of Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, the northeastern corner of Agusan del Sur, Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, and the northern sections of Misamis Occidental and Zamboanga del Norte. In Luzon, Signal No. 1 was hoisted over Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, the northern and central portions of Palawan, and Masbate.
While Verbena dominated the weather picture across the central and southern Philippines, a separate atmospheric feature—a convergence zone where warm and cold air masses collided—was bringing its own weather complications to the north. This shear line was generating cloudy skies, scattered rains, and isolated thunderstorms across Metro Manila, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, and the Calabarzon provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. The same system was affecting Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, and Nueva Vizcaya.
The rest of Luzon faced partly cloudy to overcast conditions with isolated light rains driven by the northeast monsoon, locally called the amihan. As Verbena continued its northwestward march toward the Negros Islands and forecasters watched for its transition to tropical storm strength, the dual weather systems meant much of the Philippines would experience unsettled conditions through the coming days.
Citations marquantes
Verbena is seen to intensify into a tropical storm and will likely exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by early Thursday morning— Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur The Manila Times ↗
Climate & Environment