Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Pedestrians walk in the rain at an intersection in Manila on April 5, 2022. State weather bureau PAGASA issued a yellow warning advisory for the provinces of Quezon, Rizal, and Laguna, while light to moderate with occasional heavy rains could affect Metro Manila and other nearby provinces within the next 3 hours. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Ariel Rojas

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178061407448820220405-manila-weather-commuters-GC-4.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Pedestrians walk in the rain at an intersection in Manila on April 5, 2022. State weather bureau PAGASA issued a yellow warning advisory for the provinces of Quezon, Rizal, and Laguna, while light to moderate with occasional heavy rains could affect Metro Manila and other nearby provinces within the next 3 hours. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The low pressure area over the northern West Philippine Sea entered the Philippine area of responsibility and developed into a tropical depression early Friday morning, according to PAGASA.</p><p>It was assigned the local name Ester – the first tropical cyclone in the country this month of June and the fifth overall for the year.</p><p>As of 4 a.m., Ester was located 225 kilometers northwest of Itbayat, Batanes.</p><p>It packs winds of 45 kilometers per hour with gustiness up to 55 kph and is moving northeastward at 20 kph.</p><p>Tropical cyclone wind signal no. 1 has been raised in Batanes for strong winds. The province may also experience heavy rains due to the storm.</p><p>Ester is forecast to make landfall over southern Taiwan on Friday before continuing northeastward and exiting the PAR on Saturday, June 6.</p><p>While the tropical depression is not expected to directly affect most parts of the country, it is enhancing the southwest monsoon or Habagat, resulting in widespread rains over Northern Luzon and the western sections of Central and Southern Luzon.</p><p>Up to intense rainfall may be expected in La Union and Ilocos Sur on Friday.</p><p>Meanwhile, heavy rains may persist over Zambales, Ilocos Region, Abra, and Benguet through Saturday and over the Ilocos provinces on Sunday.</p><p>The weather bureau warned against likely flooding and landslides in areas experiencing prolonged or heavy rainfall.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>ROLE IN RAINY SEASON ONSET</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The weather disturbance that developed into Ester played a key role in PAGASA’s declaration of the start of the rainy season over the western Philippines on Thursday.</p><p>Although Habagat began affecting the country on May 30, the rainfall threshold required for the onset of the rainy season had not been met yet in most of PAGASA’s 13 monitoring stations.</p><p>The enhanced monsoon rains brought by the weather disturbance helped satisfy the required rainfall during the five-day observation period, prompting the announcement of the start of the rainy season.</p><p>PAGASA also noted that the looming El Niño may further strengthen the southwest monsoon in the coming months.</p><p>While El Niño usually leads to below-normal rainfall in the country, it can also intensify the Habagat, resulting in enhanced rainfall over the western Philippines during the rainy season.</p><p>However, periods of reduced rainfall called monsoon breaks may also occur and can last for several days to a few weeks.</p><p>This rainy season, 7 to 13 tropical cyclones are forecast to form within or enter the PAR from June to September.</p><p>Despite the expected Habagat enhancement during the rainy season, PAGASA said El Niño may begin reducing rainfall and tropical cyclone activity from October. </p><p>More intense tropical cyclones, however, are still likely to develop.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qx9OyALMC5c?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>As of 4 a.m., Ester was located 225 kilometers northwest of Itbayat, Batanes.</p>

Ester forms northwest of Batanes; enhanced Habagat rains to persist in Luzon

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Ester forms northwest of Batanes; enhanced Habagat rains to persist in Luzon

Ariel Rojas,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 05, 2026 07:04 AM PHT

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Ester

EsterPH

PAGASA

tropical depression

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southwest monsoon

Habagat

El Niño

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