Tropical storm “Nock-ten” is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) early Friday morning and is likely to bring rains during the holidays, state weather bureau PAGASA said.

At 4 p.m., Nock-ten which will be named “Nina” once it enters PAR, was located at 1,320 km east of northern Mindanao outside PAR, according to PAGASA.

The U.S. Navy and Air Force's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), in its latest advisory and tracking of the tropical cyclone, indicated that it may directly hit Metro Manila on Monday.

The storm is currently packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kph with gustiness of over 95 kph. It is forecast to move west northwest at 23 kph.

Based on the forecast track of PAGASA and other international weather agencies, there is a strong chance that the storm will hit Bicol region and is likely to make landfall on Christmas day, Sunday.

Bicol and eastern Visays will likely experience cloudy weather with light to moderate rains tomorrow while rains are expected to be stronger in Samar and Bicol over the weekend.

The storm is forecast to cross southern Luzon and its center may pass through Quezon province, Laguna and Batangas before hitting Metro Manila.

Storm warning signals may be raised starting Friday night.