Tornado warnings 'exaggerated'

2007-10-08 14:02

Verashni Pillay

Johannesburg - The SA Weather Service said while there was a chance of severe storms hitting Gauteng on Monday, e-mail and SMS warnings about a possible tornado were grossly exaggerated.

The Weather Service said thunderstorms were expected in the province, which could build to severe storms, according to Talk radio, 702.

But forecaster Mark Todd said the Weather Service had not issued a tornado warning.

Todd said there was a risk one or two thunderstorms may become severe, but there was no guarantee they would be thunderstorms.

Johannesburg Aviation Weather Centre said they were expecting the "usual" storms. "We are expecting isolated thunderstorms over Gauteng," Teboho Moloi told News24 on Monday afternoon.

Moloi said that the strong winds, already between 20 and 30 knots, were significant for aviation, but said no flights had been cancelled yet.

"One or two of the storms might have hail," said Moloi. The Aviation centre's definition of a severe thunderstorm included hail with a radius of 2cm.

Moloi said the warnings were for the period from 14:00 till about 22:00 or 11:00 on Monday night

"It's just on and off storms," he said.

- News24