SA warned of more cold coming

2006-08-16 16:22

Johannesburg - Vast tracts of South Africa's south and its landlocked mountain neighbour Lesotho were covered in snow on Wednesday, with many major highways blocked by the new cold wave.

Weather forecaster Evert Scholtz said: "On the satellite picture you can see there is a lot of snow over the northern part of the Eastern Cape and also southern KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho."

"At least 50cm fell at Tifendell," near the country's best known ski resort, about 450km south of Johannesburg.

"Temperatures in the area hovered around five degrees Celsius."

Tshepo Machaea, a road safety spokesperson, said: "Snow temporarily blocked at least three main highways linking the country's industrial interior and its harbours."

"Traffic was affected on a highway linking Port Elizabeth and Durban, the N9 connecting the central heartland to tourist destinations in the south, and the N10 running from Namibia to eastern South Africa."

Fairly serious system

"It was quite thick, up to my knees in places," said Machaea, adding that although graders were used to clear the roads, "it was quite difficult because the snow was very hard to break because it had turned to ice".

Weather forecaster Scholtz said another cold wave was expected on Friday and Sunday, leading to fresh snowfall most probably on Tuesday.

Scholtz said: "That will be a fairly serious system, most likely like the one we had yesterday (on Tuesday).

"It's early days, but there is a possibility of snow over the Eastern Cape and Lesotho on Tuesday night.

He said the current cold wave, the second this spring, was "normal for this time of the year".

"You can expect the same in September and October."

A earlier cold snap this month brought snow to Johannesburg for the first time in 25 years.

Snow is not uncommon in parts of South Africa in winter, but it normally melts quickly.

- AFP