A
week of very cold temperatures is expected across the majority of South Africa
from today (31 May), lasting well into the coming weekend.
The cold
temperatures follow in the wake of a cold front that moved over the eastern
parts of the country on Sunday evening, sustained by the development of a
cut-off low pressure system over the south-eastern parts of the country.
The
cut-off low pressure system will be responsible for the majority of adverse
weather expected over the next three days. This includes snowfall
accumulation of between 5 to 15 cm over Lesotho and the southern
Drakensberg mountains in the Eastern Cape, rainfall of a
disruptive nature along the Wild Coast and north eastern KwaZulu-Natal, as well as wet conditions accompanied by very cold temperatures
over the high lying areas of the Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and
KwaZulu-Natal.
Eastern
Cape impacts
Showers
and thundershowers are expected over the southern and eastern parts of the
Eastern Cape province as the high-pressure system ridges in, combined with the
influence of the upper air cut-off low located over eastern parts of the
country.
Heavy rain over the Eastern Cape is expected to result in localised
flooding of roads and settlements along the Wild Coast and adjacent
interior from 1 June into 2 June. .
Moreover, cold conditions are
expected over Eastern Cape, with very cold conditions over the north eastern
high ground of the southern Drakensberg, where disruptive snowfalls are
expected from tomorrow morning (1 June) into Wednesday morning (2 June). This could result in major roads and mountain passes being closed, as well as loss of livestock and access to some remote communities being
interrupted due to snowfall or icy roads.
The South African Weather Service will
continue to monitor any further developments relating to this weather system
and will issue subsequent updates as required. Furthermore, the public are
urged and encouraged to regularly follow weather forecasts on television and
radio.
Updated information in this regard will regularly be available at www.weathersa.co.za as well as via the SA Weather Service Twitter account @SAWeatherServic
