Cold and wet weekend ahead for parts of SA

The South African Weather Service (Saws) has warned of heavy rainfall, very cold conditions, rough seas, snow, and strong to gale force winds expected over parts of the Cape provinces this weekend.

The weather office said  a cut-off low will rapidly develop over the Western Cape tomorrow, further exacerbating weather conditions.

Although the Cape provinces will experience the brunt of these conditions, Saws said the central and eastern parts of the country, including KZN, will also experience cold to very cold conditions from tomorrow night into Sunday.

“A strong cold front is expected to make landfall along the west coast of South Africa and Namibia during Friday evening, causing scattered to widespread showers and rain along the coast of the Northern Cape and the western parts of the Western Cape.

“Very rough sea conditions along the coastal areas and windy conditions over the central and western interior of the country are also anticipated,” said the weather office.

KZN

Saws said very rough seas, associated with strong winds, with wave heights between four and 6m can be expected along the west coast from tonight, spreading along the south coast of the Western Cape tomorrow, to the coast of the Eastern Cape tomorrow night and reaching the KZN coast on Sunday.

The weather office said these conditions may cause disruption to beachfront activities and difficulty in navigation at sea for small to medium vessels.

High seas with wave heights between six to 7m can also be expected along the south coast of the Western Cape from tomorrow afternoon into Sunday, spreading to the Eastern Cape coast on Sunday, which can lead to possible beach erosion and put small to medium vessels at risk of taking on water or capsizing, said the weather office.

Snowfall

Saws said snowfall is expected across interior mountain ranges of the Western Cape, the western and southern high ground of the Northern Cape and the high ground of the Eastern Cape from tomorrow into Sunday and may extend into the Drakensberg region of KZN and the extreme southern parts of the Free State on Sunday.

Disruptive snowfall can be expected over the interior high ground of the Western Cape, the northern and central high ground of the Eastern Cape and the southern high ground of the Northern Cape tomorrow into Sunday, which may lead to a loss of livestock, the closure of mountain passes and result in some communities to be temporarily inaccessible.

Very cold conditions – maximum temperatures between 5°C and 10°C – are expected over the interior of the Cape provinces from tomorrow into Sunday, while cold conditions are expected to spread to the central and eastern parts of the country mainly on Sunday.

The weather office said the weather systems are expected to weaken significantly on Sunday while exiting over the south-eastern parts of the country, causing weather conditions to improve mainly from Sunday evening into Monday. However, heavy ocean swell will continue to impact the southern and south-eastern coastline on Monday due to another cold front slipping along the southern coastal areas.