News24 | Very cold conditions in several parts of SA, snow in Eastern Cape

Very cold weather conditions are expected in several parts of South Africa, with possible snowfall in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.

• Cold conditions can be expected across the central and eastern parts of the country.
• The icy conditions are likely to result in snow in high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape.
• Showers are expected across several provinces.

Very cold weather conditions are expected in several parts of South Africa, with possible snowfall in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.

According to the South African Weather Service (SAWS), a cut-off-low is expected to result in cloudy and cold conditions over the central and eastern parts of the country between Wednesday and Thursday.

Isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers can be expected over Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.

The SAWS warned of “very cold conditions with light snowfall in places over the northern high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape”.

Snowfall is also expected over the escarpments of the Eastern Cape and Lesotho.

A Yellow level 1 warning for damaging waves is in effect between Alexander Bay and Plettenberg Bay.

A Yellow level 1 warning for severe thunderstorms with large amounts of small hail is in place over the Free State and the eastern parts of the Northern Cape.

In the SAWS’ colour-coded weather warning system, yellow indicates a moderate risk of impact that requires caution and awareness.

The SAWS uses the numbers to indicate the likelihood of weather-based impacts occurring. Level 1 is medium.

The hail could damage to infrastructure, settlements, property, vehicles, livelihood and livestock, and lead to the loss of agricultural production.

The warnings come on the back of heavy rainfall in the Western Cape on Monday and Tuesday, which resulted in flooding in parts of Cape Town.

On Monday, KwaZulu-Natal disaster management teams were put on high alert after the SAWS warned of a high risk of veld fires in the northern parts of the province on Monday and Tuesday.

Dry, warm, and windy conditions, with gusts exceeding 40 km/h and low humidity, are ideal for the rapid ignition and spread of fires.

In addition, the SAWS said extremely high fire danger conditions were expected in places over the Central Karoo district in the Western Cape, as well as the !Khe and Siyathemba Local Municipalities in the Northern Cape.