More snow and biting cold ahead this week

The first of many more cut-off low-system cold fronts that will come this winter season hit at the weekend.

Significant snowfall was reported over parts of the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape, with mountain passes closed as more snow is expected.

The cold temperatures will also continue, following the first two cold fronts of the season that made landfall over the country this weekend.

South African Weather Service senior forecaster Lehlohonolo Thobela said temperatures were expected to start recovering to normal winter temperatures from Thursday afternoon as the cold front passes.

Rain, winds and snow

Thobela said warnings of disruptive rain, damaging winds and disruptive snow over the eastern areas remain, with cloudy and cold conditions expected over the central and eastern parts of the country.

Disruptive rain and snow are expected to fall over parts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Associate professor in meteorology at the University of Pretoria Liesl Dyson said while climatology suggests that Pretoria receives about 20% of the number of snow events that occur in Johannesburg, snow is rare in Pretoria.

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Storms expected in Pretoria

Dyson said it was still too warm for snow in Pretoria and surrounds, but added that a few storms were on the cards.

“But there is a slight chance of snow over the Witwatersrand overnight. The cut-off low responsible for the cold and rain over large parts of South Africa is still lying west of Gauteng and will move over the province overnight.

“Some showers are possible when this happens and some freezing precipitation may be present in the showers,” she said.

Dyson said this would lead to bitterly cold overnight minimum temperatures plummeting to below-freezing in high-lying areas.

Snow in the three Capes

Vox Weather meteorologist Annette Botha said snow sightings have been reported over the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape and ice rain in the Free State and North West.

“Forecasts indicated more than half a metre of snow was expected to fall on the mountain passes near Barkly East, the southern Drakensberg and Lesotho. Gauteng has been ruled out of the snow forecast but ice rain is expected,” she said.

Botha said the most dangerous part of the current cold front was the scorpion cell that was expected to dump heavy rain over the Eastern Cape.

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