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The South African Weather Service said a cold front made landfall on Thursday and moved over the interior of the Western and Eastern Cape bringing cloudy and cold conditions along with it.
“Rainfall is already occurring over the southern parts of the country, with cold, rainy conditions expected to persist over the weekend, as these conditions migrate further northward and eastwards over southern Africa,” a Weather Service statement said.
“Whilst snowfalls are expected over the mountainous regions of all three of the Cape provinces, the falls of snow are mostly expected to be relatively light and of a patchy, non-disruptive nature.”
The Weather Service said its numeric weather prediction models suggest that significantly heavy rainfall, in the order of 100 to 200 mm is likely to occur over the eastern parts of Eastern Cape on Saturday, specifically between East London and Port St Johns, including the adjacent interior regions.
Moreover, further rainfall is expected to persist over this region on Sunday, when significant rainfall spreads over parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
“Persistent rainfall of this magnitude, enhanced by sustained cool, moist onshore flow against the coastal topography, is highly likely to lead to localised urban and river flooding as well as damage to infrastructure,” the SA Weather Service said.
Small-stock farmers have been advised to move animals to dry shelters at lower elevations.
“Daytime temperatures for the weekend are expected to be of the order of 12 to 16°C over the interior of the Cape provinces on Friday, with cold, showery conditions spreading into the Free State, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and KZN during the weekend.”
