Icy weather warning
2006-05-28 09:12
Johannesburg - The icy cold weather that is sweeping across South Africa is expected to become worse.
The SA Weather Service warns that temperatures will drop below zero in some areas.
Farmers in the coldest parts of the interior already had to move their livestock from the mountains pending the coldest weekend this year.
Heavy snow fell over the central parts of Lesotho and the Drakensberg and the weather service on Saturday predicted that many people will wake up this morning to snow-covered gardens in the higher parts of the country.
In other parts ice rain, hail and rain are predicted.
The weather service released a special warning on Saturday that the cold weather might be dangerous and cause havoc in parts of the country.
People who live in the higher parts of the North West, Eastern Cape, Free State and southern parts of Mpumlanga and Gauteng Highveld are warned that it will be very cold and remain so until next weekend.
Heavy rains and a stormy sea is predicted for the south coast in the Cape to East London.
This winter might catch some people off guard as it will be much colder than the past two years, said Luis Fernandes, a forecaster at the weather service.
At Tiffendell, close to Rhodes in the Eastern Cape, South Africa's only ski resort, snow was already 5cm thick on Saturday.
The lowest temperatures are expected for Sutherland (-5), Postmasburg (-4) Queenstown (3) and Vryburg (-2).