Durban – The South African Weather Service (SAWS) is warning of significantly lower sea levels as a negative surge moves over the country.
The weather service says a combination of high surface pressures and off/along-shore winds are predicted to depress sea levels below their expected tidal levels from Monday to Wednesday.
“This negative surge is likely to affect the SA west, south-west, southern and south-east coasts. The SAWS forecast system indicates that sea levels may drop below chart datum at times of low tide between Saldanha, Gqeberha and Ngqura,” the forecaster said.
The effect will be most pronounced at Mossel Bay where the sea level is expected to drop to at least 25cm below tide.
Meanwhile, a Yellow Level 2 warning has been issued for strong winds predicted between the Western Cape and Northern Cape.
“This will make it difficult to navigate at sea. A Yellow Level 2 warning for strong winds, resulting in dust storms and localised reduction in visibility, expected over the coastal areas of Namakwa in the Northern Cape and the West Coast District in the Western Cape,” the forecaster said.
Extremely high fire danger conditions have also been predicted in the Matzikama local municipality, Western Cape, as well as the Namakwa and ZF Mgcawu District municipalities of the Northern Cape, except over the extreme southern high ground.
The Northern Cape will be partly cloudy with temperatures dropping later in the day.
“It will be windy in the central and western parts, with dust storms expected along the coast. Dust storms are also predicted along the Western Cape west coast with gale-force winds in the south-east,” the weather service said.
Strong winds are also predicted over most of the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
IOL