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Experts warn of more tornados, severe thunderstorms
Tornados, like the one near Bethal this week, are more likely to occur with the increase of the intensity of severe thunderstorms.
Screengrab of the tornado that hit parts of Mpumalanga.
Weather experts say more tornados and severe thunder storms with damaging wind, hail and heatwaves are highly likely as the country heads into summer.
This week, a thunderstorm left a path of destruction as it moved through parts of Gauteng and Mpumalanga, accompanied by damaging winds that blew over big advertising boards, with hailstones damaging car windscreens and solar panels.
Tshepo Ngobeni, SA Weather Service’s senior manager of disaster risk management, said tornados, like the one near Bethal this week, were more likely to occur with the increase of the intensity of severe thunderstorms. Thunderstorms created perfect conditions for a tornado to form, he said.
WATCH: Tornado hits parts of Bethal and Standerton in Mpumalanga
“This is the season for severe thunderstorms and, as such, these events are by no means unusual and are to be expected,” Ngobeni said. Ngobeni said Midrand was the hardest hit by Monday’s severe storm and hail.
Damages suffered
“We were saddened to see members of the public counting their losses after a thunderstorm ran riot, unleashing a hailstorm in the Johannesburg and a tornado in the Lekwa local municipality in Mpumalanga.”
Ngobeni said thunderstorms were local atmospheric disturbances, produced by cauliflower-shaped clouds of great vertical extent known as cumulonimbus clouds.
“They are accompanied by lightning, thunder, heavy rain and often strong winds and hail. They are among the most spectacular weather phenomena in the atmosphere, particularly inland.
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“A tornado, on the other hand, is a violent, rotating storm of small diameter and is the most ferocious of all weather events. It is a phenomenon that develops from very severe thunderstorms, particularly those that are associated with hail.”
Ngobeni said the service issued a yellow level 2 impact-based warning, or a high likelihood of minor impacts, for severe thunderstorms for districts and metropolitan municipal areas of Mpumalanga and Johannesburg on Monday, but not all storm warnings were as severe or impactful.
The service has issued 104 warnings of varying levels between January and August.
ALSO READ: Weather update: More severe thunderstorms and hail expected on Friday
El Nino
“Severe thunderstorms, on the contrary, are a different ball game altogether. This phenomenon, as well as the location where it occurs, can seldom be predicted at long lead times because severe thunderstorms are generally short-lived, while individual storms tend to be much more localised,” he said.
Dr Christien Engelbrecht, the weather service’s lead scientist for long-range prediction, said heatwaves were also on the cards for summer with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation currently in a state of moderate strength.
Engelbrecht said the El Nino state could intensify at any moment, which could see temperatures rising evening higher than the average maximum temperatures.
“This El Nino event is predicted to continue throughout the summer, into early autumn next year,” she said.
“El Nino events are typically warmer and drier over southern Africa during the summer months. Current predictions of the El Nino event indicate that it can become a strong event during the mid-summer months.”
Engelbrecht said warmer than normal conditions over the interior regions of South Africa were forecast this summer, with a high chance of the occurrence of heat waves on the cards. – marizkac@citizen.co.za
