The full fury of an extreme late winter cold front is expected this weekend and the national weather office has issued a detailed public hazard warning to stay away from high ground.
Heavy snow is expected to disrupt roads and infrastructure tomorrow and Monday.
SA Weather Services national forecasters Victoria Nurse and Kevin Rae said: “Due to the extreme and persistent nature of this event, the general public is strongly urged not to venture into snowy areas on sightseeing leisure trips.
“There is a distinct risk of becoming trapped in one’s vehicle and facing the danger of hypothermia. At the very least, snowy, icy conditions dramatically raise the risk of serious vehicle accidents.”
Nurse and Rae reported that high grounds of the southern and eastern parts of the country would experience “significant, deep accumulation of snow” from tomorrow.
The office expected the late winter system to be “characterised by bitter cold and strong winds with the distinct potential to be hazardous to the public, with possibly fatal consequences for human life as well as livestock”.
They said a well-defined, upper-air trough is approaching from the ocean in the south-west which would develop into a cut-off low pressure system over the Western Cape interior tomorrow.
A high pressure system would sweep over the land into the eastern part of SA today and tomorrow dragging rain and cold air which would slam into the escarpment, rise up and cause further instability and snowfalls.
They said the southern parts of the Cape provinces are likely to be bitterly cold today together with showers and a light dusting of snowfalls over the mountainous regions in the south.
“Very cold conditions will spread to the Karoo and interior of the Eastern Cape on Sunday while more widespread, persistent snowfalls can be anticipated for the mountains of the Eastern Cape, Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, with snowdrifts expected to become more disruptive by this evening.
“Heavy snowfalls are likely to result in significant disruption to infrastructure and transport over the mountains and high-lying terrain of the Eastern Cape, Lesotho, north-east Free State and KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow.”
The weather system slides off South Africa and into the ocean on Tuesday but there will be heavy rainfall and some flooding towards KwaZulu-Natal.
Owners and guests at high-altitude hotels and ski lodges at Barkley East, Rhodes, Tiffindell, Sani Pass, Giant’s Castle, Champagne Castle, Royal Natal National Park and the Phuthaditjaba were told to plan for snowed-in guests to have an “extended stay of a few days” and the public was urged not to venture into the mountains. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Brace yourself for extreme weather
The full fury of an extreme late winter cold front is expected this weekend and the national weather office has issued a detailed public hazard warning to stay away from high ground.
Heavy snow is expected to disrupt roads and infrastructure tomorrow and Monday.
SA Weather Services national forecasters Victoria Nurse and Kevin Rae said: “Due to the extreme and persistent nature of this event, the general public is strongly urged not to venture into snowy areas on sightseeing leisure trips.
“There is a distinct risk of becoming trapped in one’s vehicle and facing the danger of hypothermia. At the very least, snowy, icy conditions dramatically raise the risk of serious vehicle accidents.”
Nurse and Rae reported that high grounds of the southern and eastern parts of the country would experience “significant, deep accumulation of snow” from tomorrow.
The office expected the late winter system to be “characterised by bitter cold and strong winds with the distinct potential to be hazardous to the public, with possibly fatal consequences for human life as well as livestock”.
They said a well-defined, upper-air trough is approaching from the ocean in the south-west which would develop into a cut-off low pressure system over the Western Cape interior tomorrow.
A high pressure system would sweep over the land into the eastern part of SA today and tomorrow dragging rain and cold air which would slam into the escarpment, rise up and cause further instability and snowfalls.
They said the southern parts of the Cape provinces are likely to be bitterly cold today together with showers and a light dusting of snowfalls over the mountainous regions in the south.
“Very cold conditions will spread to the Karoo and interior of the Eastern Cape on Sunday while more widespread, persistent snowfalls can be anticipated for the mountains of the Eastern Cape, Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, with snowdrifts expected to become more disruptive by this evening.
“Heavy snowfalls are likely to result in significant disruption to infrastructure and transport over the mountains and high-lying terrain of the Eastern Cape, Lesotho, north-east Free State and KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow.”
The weather system slides off South Africa and into the ocean on Tuesday but there will be heavy rainfall and some flooding towards KwaZulu-Natal.
Owners and guests at high-altitude hotels and ski lodges at Barkley East, Rhodes, Tiffindell, Sani Pass, Giant’s Castle, Champagne Castle, Royal Natal National Park and the Phuthaditjaba were told to plan for snowed-in guests to have an “extended stay of a few days” and the public was urged not to venture into the mountains. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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