System 90W Appears Ripe for Tropical Cyclone Development in Philippines

There’s a tropical disturbance in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, about 160 miles northwest of Zamboanga in the Philippines. System 90W appears to be coming together as a tropical cyclone.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (or MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of System 90W on April 27 at 1:27 a.m. EDT, when it was 160 miles NW of Zamboanga, Philippines. Zamboanga City is one of the primary hub of Airport and Seaport in the Philippines. It is also the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area.

System 90W is already bringing rains to the cities of Narra (a municipality) and Brooke’s Point (a first class municipality) in the province of Palawan, Philippines. Even Puerto Princesa City, a first class city and the capital of Palawan, is reporting rainfall from System 90W today.

System 90W’s circulation center was near 8.9 North latitude and 120.2 West longitude over the Sulu Sea in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Maximum sustained surface winds are estimated at 15 to 20 knots (17-23 mph).