Record-breaking cold hits SA

2003-10-20 18:44

Pretoria - Nine temperature records - one 38 years old - plummeted with the mercury on Sunday, the SA Weather Service reported on Monday.

Potchefstroom had its previous coldest day on October 19, 1965, when the thermometer reached a maximum of 12.3° Celsius, the weather service said in a statement. On Sunday, the highest temperature in the North West town was a mere 9.1 ° C.

Pretoria bettered by 0.1 degrees the lowest maximum temperature yet recorded in the city of 12° C on October 4, 1981. A cold 6.6° C shattered the 9.3° C record set at the Johannesburg International Airport in 1973.

Ottosdal in the North West saw a new lowest maximum temperature of 8.5° C compared to 13.4° C on October 13, 1988, while Standerton in Mpumalanga was just over three degrees colder than its previous low of 8.5°: C - also measured in 1988.

At 7° C, the Mpumalanga town of Bethal improved its 1981 record by one degree, while Mafikeng was more than two degrees colder than the previous record of 13° C in 1973.

Mara and Thohoyandou, both in Limpopo, broke their previous records of 11.9° C and 13.1° C by 0.2 and 0.4 degrees respectively.

The weather service said two rain records were also broken on Sunday. Zeerust in the North West recorded 69mm, compared to its previous high of 55mm in 1982.

Musina in Limpopo improved its 1984 record of 43mm in 24 hours by 4mm.

The statement said daytime temperatures would start climbing over the north-eastern part of the country from Tuesday. It would remain cloudy over Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga but rain would be limited to the eastern part of Limpopo.

"For the rest of this week no further rain is forecast, but indications are that the chances of rain over the eastern parts of the country are improving for next week," the weather service said.

- SAPA