MANILA (UPDATE) — A low pressure area off Luzon strengthened into a tropical depression before dawn on Monday and might stir rains across large swaths of the country, said the state weather bureau.

The third storm of 2020, Carina was 275 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan at 7 a.m. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour (kph) and 55 kph gusts, said PAGASA.

Signal number 1, where wind speeds of 30 to 60 kph may be experienced in 36 hours, is hoisted over:

• Batanes
• Babuyan islands
• Northeastern Cagayan (Santa Ana, Gonzaga, Santa Teresita, Buguey, and the eastern portions of Lal-lo, Gataran and Baggao)

Carina will dump moderate to heavy rains over Babuyan and northeastern Cagayan and Isabela. Ilocos, Cordillera, the rest of Cagayan Valley, Aurora and northern Quezon including Polilio islands will experience light to moderate with at times heavy rains, said PAGASA.

Residents in these areas should be on the lookout for possible floods or landslides during moderate to at times heavy rains, said the weather agency.

Moving northwest, Carina is not expected to strengthen further and could instead weaken back into a low pressure area when it nears Batanes early Wednesday, PAGASA weather specialist Ariel Rojas said.

Carina's landfall in northeastern Cagayan or Babuyan "remains a possibility", said PAGASA.

Carina crept closer to Luzon even as the country struggled to contain the novel coronavirus disease, cases of which breached the 54,000-mark over the weekend.

Two earlier storms this year drove tens of thousands into evacuation centers while practicing physical distancing measures and with the resources of some local governments depleted by the pandemic.

Visit the ABS-CBN Weather Center for updates.