The country may have a rainy Holy Week as the low pressure area (LPA) spotted near Mindanao has intensified into a tropical depression and may enter the country either on Monday or Tuesday, the weather bureau said on Sunday.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the center of the tropical depression was located at 1,740 kilometers (km) east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Norte.

It has maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 65 kph. It is moving on a west-northwest direction at 25 kph.

BLESSING OF FRONDS A priest blesses a sea of palm fronds at the Our Lady of Candelaria Church in Silang, Cavite on Sunday. Palm Sunday officially ushered in Holy Week, a time of reflection and prayer for the country’s millions of Catholics. PHOTO BY BOY JOSUE

“The tropical depression may likely develop into a typhoon in the coming days and may enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Monday evening or Tuesday morning,” Pagasa’s weather specialist Meno Mendoza told The Manila Times.

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Although the tropical depression may intensify into a typhoon, it will not make landfall in any part of the country, Mendoza said.

It is not uncommon for a cyclone to hit the country during Holy Week, a major religious event marked by soaring temperatures and treks to beaches and other tourist destinations. In 2015, Typhoon Chedeng entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Holy Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the northeast monsoon or “amihan” will bring cloudy skies and scattered rains over the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, Bicol region, and the provinces of Aurora and Quezon.

Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated light rains.

Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Caraga will have cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms caused by the tail-end of a cold front.

The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers due to localized thunderstorms.