Severe weather, snow predicted for these parts of South Africa

Accoring to a media release from the South Africa Weather Service, a spell of “extreme winter weather” is expected to hit the country this weekend, with snowfalls possible over all provinces, except Limpopo.

In the coming days, a particularly intense cut-off low (COL) system, associated with severe winter weather, is expected to affect South Africa, persisting until at least the middle of next week over the eastern provinces.

SOUTH AFRICA WEATHER ALERTS

Some of the more extreme weather impacts associated with this system include the following:

• Snowfalls over almost every province, with the exception of Limpopo. Some of these snowfalls will be disruptive, affecting traffic flow over mountain passes (for example, the N3 at Van Reenen’s pass).
• Strong, damaging surface winds over large parts of the interior provinces from Sunday, leading to an elevated risk of wildfires, especially over the central and eastern interior, ahead of the cold change. These extreme conditions are expected to persist over some of the eastern provinces until Wednesday.
• Strong to near-gale force coastal winds and very rough seas could be expected from Friday along the south-west coast, spreading to the south and east coasts during Saturday, and lasting until at least Tuesday along the east coast.
• Heavy rainfall leading to localised flooding and infrastructure damage over parts of the Eastern Cape coast and adjacent interior on Sunday, shifting to southern KZN on Monday.
• Bitterly cold daytime conditions over many provinces from Sunday, with maximum temperatures unlikely to exceed 10C°. These conditions will be exacerbated by strong, gusty winds.
• There is also a risk of severe thunderstorms; possibly associated with damaging hail and/or damaging winds over some provinces, including North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KZN during Monday and Tuesday.

WHAT ARE YOUR WEEKEND PLANS CONSIDERING THE ARRIVAL OF THESE CONDITIONS?

Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211.

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