WATCH: Severe cold to hit Gauteng as snow falls in Free State, Karoo
On Wednesday and Thursday, the mercury will dip to below-zero minimum temperatures for Johannesburg (-2°C), with Pretoria falling to 0°C on Thursday.
Snow falls between Hanover and Three Sisters in the Karoo, 14 July 2020. Picture: Twitter / @SAWeatherServic
To add insult to injury amid a coronavirus pandemic and rolling blackouts, South Africans have been warned that severely cold weather is on the cards for most provinces this week.
Tokelo Chiloane, a forecaster at the South African Weather Service (SAWS), said a cold front that had already plagued the Cape provinces will move to the central and eastern parts of the country on Tuesday.
This includes Gauteng, the Free State, Eastern Cape, North West, KwaZulu-Natal and the highveld of Mpumalanga. According to the SAWS, temperatures are expected to drop to the low teens.
Snow in the Northern Cape today 🙂 https://t.co/QhQiAFy9OE
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) July 14, 2020
Minimum temperatures were expected to plummet significantly, with widespread frost predicted for Wednesday morning across the central interior of the country, such as the northern parts of the Eastern Cape, eastern parts of the Northern Cape, extreme southern parts of North West and Gauteng, as well as the Free State.
“We saw some very cold conditions in the Free State [on Tuesday] morning with frost in some places.”
Some snow reported even up to Bloemfontein although it wasnt enough to settle ❄❄❄ https://t.co/uXxAG9mWWo
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) July 14, 2020
According to Chiloane, the cold front was moving through the Free State between Welkom and Bloemfontein to the interior of the country.
“It will be warming up in the west on Wednesday. However, Gauteng and Mpumalanga will be experiencing cold weather and only warm up from Thursday,” Chiloane said.
Cold winds will add to the chill factor, she said.
On Monday, South Africa was hit by a second cold front following a drop in temperatures since Thursday that saw heavy rains, gale-force winds and snow batter the Cape provinces, as well as parts of Lesotho.
The southern provinces were not out of the woods yet.
The SAWS expected a storm surge along the coast between Mossel Bay and Cape St Francis on Tuesday morning.
In addition, gale-force winds (65km/h to 75km/h) are expected along the coast between Mossel Bay and Coffee Bay.
Snowfall is also expected over the high ground of the Western Cape, southern parts of the Northern Cape, southern Free State and the Eastern Cape high ground on Tuesday.
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