Snow fell in Boston, in KwaZulu-Natal last weekend. Hundreds of motorists were stranded when rain and snowfall caused major disruptions in the province. Picture: Se-Anne Rall/IOL
It looks like another cold front will be passing through South Africa, bringing with it snowfall and icy temperatures.
The South African Weather Service (Saws) has announced that a cold front, accompanied by an upper trough, will arrive in the Western Cape on Saturday afternoon. This will bring showers and rain to the south-western parts of the province, as well as isolated showers and thundershowers over the western and central interior regions of the country.
Saws said light snow can be expected over the Drakensberg this weekend.
"Weather conditions are expected to change significantly as an upper trough system associated with a ridging high-pressure system at the surface will introduce significant cooling over the escarpment regions of South Africa, extending from the Western Cape, up to the southern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
"Daytime temperatures are expected to start cooling down over the Western Cape from Sunday, reaching the Eastern Cape and KZN by Monday," the forecaster said.
Saws said the expected snowfall will follow a similar trend; starting in the Western Cape early on Sunday morning and spreading eastward towards KZN on Monday morning," Saws added.
It said snowfall is expected to clear up in the Western Cape and western parts of the Eastern Cape by Monday evening. Snowfall will, however, persist on Tuesday over the eastern parts of Eastern Cape and southern KZN.
According to Saws, as the cold front moves eastward across the country, onshore flow along the south coast will continue to result in showers and rain persisting into the evening hours.
"With the cold front already resulting in cooler surface conditions, another upper trough associated with the ridging high-pressure behind the cold front will further cool down the surface temperatures on Sunday, especially along the high-lying regions of the Western Cape and into the southern parts of the Northern Cape. As the ridging high-pressure system continues to move eastwards, the temperatures are expected to drop further to very cold conditions over the escarpment of the Eastern Cape and southern KZN into Monday.
"Strong to possible gale force winds as well as ocean swells between four to six-metre high can also be expected along the south coast from Sunday into Monday morning as the ridging high-pressure moves through. Daily rainfall accumulation is not expected to exceed 30mm over the period of September 29 - October 1. Light snowfall is likely to occur over the high-lying regions of Western Cape, southern Northern Cape, Eastern Cape as well as southern KZN," Saws added.
Affected areas
Cold to very cold conditions are expected along the south-western parts of SA, not exceeding 25mm, are expected over most parts of the western and central parts of the country. Significant marine swells are also expected between Saldanha Bay and Plettenberg Bay on Sunday, spreading to Port Shepstone by Monday. Gale-force winds can be expected between Cape Agulhas and Gqeberha, as well as East London.
Saws said the weather is not expected to significantly affect the N3 highway.
IOL News