Back to winter woollies

2003-10-17 17:25

Pretoria - If you thought you had finished with your winter woollens for the year, think again. This weekend should see snow, rain, very cold conditions and possibly flooding across the interior of South Africa.

Hannelee Doubell of the South African Weather Service said widespread showers were expected over the North-West Province, Limpopo Province, Free State, eastern parts of the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, with greater chances of rain over the extreme eastern parts, which included KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.

This was due to a low pressure system over the western interior on Saturday and Sunday, which would gradually move eastwards on Monday.

On Saturday this system would bring down tropical air from Central Africa to our interior.

These rainy conditions would continue on Sunday with an increased chance of rain shifting towards northern KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Limpopo Province.

"Heavy falls are likely in places over the eastern parts of the country on Sunday.

"The public should be on the look-out for local flooding as the ground surface is very dry, leading to rapid run-off during heavy showers," said Doubell.

Very cold conditions were expected over the eastern and south eastern interior from Saturday. Temperatures would increase from Monday.

Doubell said snow had fallen over the Eastern Cape mountains on Friday. Light falls were expected to continue on Saturday and spread to the north eastern high-peaks of the Eastern Cape, and the southern and central Drakensberg of KwaZulu-Natal, she said.

"Although these conditions do not occur frequently during October, it is normal that cold fronts, accompanied by upper level troughs, move over the interior during spring," said Doubell.

- SAPA