A significant cold front is set to sweep across the country this week, bringing snow to multiple high-lying areas and plunging Pretoria into freezing conditions with an extended dry spell.
The capital city can expect maximum temperatures to remain well below 20°C and below zero night time temperatures throughout the week, with even colder conditions and strong southerly winds forecast from Friday as the weather system moves across the country.
According to the weather service, an upper-air trough will kick off the weather event by bringing showers and thunderstorms to southern Namibia and the western parts of the Northern Cape and Western Cape on Tuesday.
Wednesday evening, a cold front is expected to make landfall in the south-western Cape, bringing scattered showers to the western parts of the Western Cape, with rainfall of up to 50mm possible over the mountains by Friday evening.
Light rain is also expected to spread into parts of the Eastern Cape on Thursday and Friday as the system progresses.
Snow expected across multiple mountain ranges
Freezing levels will drop significantly from Thursday, with light snowfall possible across several mountain regions:
• Western Cape: Mountains in the western parts including Cederberg and Matroosberg
• Northern Cape: Areas around Sutherland, and the Nuweveld and Roggeveld mountains, spreading to the Sneeuberg in the Eastern Cape
• Southern regions: The Swartberg mountains, Outeniqua mountains and Tsitsikamma mountain around the Little Karoo and Garden Route
As the cold front intensifies, freezing levels will drop further, allowing for snow over the northern high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape and southern Drakensberg and Lesotho.
