WHILE tropical cyclone Gezani will not make landfall to either the South African or Mozambican coastlines, interaction with a strong high south-west of SA will result in strong coastal winds.

This was the overarching message from meteorologists running the Severe Weather and Information Centre SA (SwaicSA) Facebook page, who this morning (Saturday) confirmed that, over the next 24 hours, Gezani ‘is expected to continue its wide turn toward the east while remaining at tropical cyclone intensity’.

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“For perspective — this system is enormous, spanning an area comparable in size to the combined provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng,” said SwaicSA, describing the system.

As at 5am today (Saturday), the eye of Gezani was positioned some 390km east of the Limpopo border, according to the group.

“Deteriorating conditions are expected to persist until late Saturday morning along parts of the southern Mozambican coast.”

“Tropical cyclone Gezani is not forecast to make landfall to South Africa. However, Gezani’s deep low pressure offshore is interacting with a strong 1027 hPa high southwest of South Africa.

“This creates a tight pressure gradient along the east coast. A tight pressure gradient means there is a large difference in air pressure over a short distance, which forces air to move faster and results in stronger winds,” said SwaicSA on Friday.

Warning for damaging winds, waves

Meanwhile, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) on Friday night issued a yellow level 4 warning for damaging winds and waves along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, from Port Edward in the south to St Lucia in the north.

“Damaging winds and waves leading to localised disruption of small harbours or port for a short period of time and damage of settlements and infrastructure are expected between Port Edward and Port St Lucia,” warned the weather desk.

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