Snow alert ahead of bitterly cold weekend for SA
2016-06-30 06:00 – Selene Brophy
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Cape Town – Large parts of SA can expect the mercury to plummet over the next few days, according to the South African Weather Service.
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Winter has hit hard as bitterly cold temperatures are being be felt across SA, as PE experienced its coldest morning for the year with the mercury dropping to 1.9°C on Wednesday.
Forecasts for Thursday indicate temperatures will drop to as much as -3°C in Gauteng’s Vereerniging and the Northern Cape’s Sutherland, while the mercury will drop to -0°C in Mpumalanga’s Standerton, the Northern Cape’s Calvinia as well as the Free State’s Bethlehem.
Click here to see the specific forecast in your city
South African Weather Service spokesperson for the region Garth Sampson says it was in fact the coldest temperature since 2014 set at 1.4°C, and it would have had to drop a further -0.7°C to set an all-time record.
SEE: Cold front approaches SA from south-west
Added to this Sampson warns the upcoming weekend is expected to be super cold as a cold front with wet weather and possible snowfall is expected to hit the Eastern Cape by Friday afternoon.
“This will be accompanied by gale force winds, very cold temperatures and showers of rain over the southern parts near the south of Somerset East, Hogsback between Plettenberg Bay and the Kei River.
Warnings of snow
Snow is also expected on the southern mountains and will include Baviaanskloof Mountains, Tsitsikama Mountains, Amatola/Winterberg Mountains around Hogsback, says Sampson.
A 30% chance of rain is expected along the coast from Lambert’s Bay to the Still Bay area and it will be cool to cold in most of SA.The area in Mpumalanga bordering Swaziland will be warm as well as the northern parts of the Northern Cape.
On Friday, as the front moves north-east, heavy rain is expected in the Western Cape from Langebaan to Caledon. Surrounding areas moving inland can expect a 60% chance of rain, up until Lambert’s Bay and George.
Snow report has also forecast snowfall for the weekend across the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KZN.
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Sampson says conditions will gradually start to clear from the west on Saturday – however temperatures are expected to remain low over the weekend and are only expected to recover towards Monday, when north westerly winds are expected warm things up.