GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - After enjoying a lovely mildly warm day yesterday, Friday 7 July, South Africans are grabbing for their coats and lighting the fireplaces as the predicted cold, wet and windy weather is here.

The cold and wet conditions arrived in the Western Cape during yesterday afternoon and has been spreading eastwards into this morning. This movement is expected to continue eastwards across South Africa over the next few days.

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) says cold to very cold temperatures are expected in most parts of the country over the next few days, with snow on the high lying areas. The much-anticipated cold front has made landfall over the western parts of South Africa, resulting in significant cooling in daytime temperatures as well as showers and rain.
Further cooling is expected over the western parts of the country tomorrow, spreading to the central and eastern parts during Sunday and Monday, with maximum temperatures expected to stay below 10°C in most places over the interior.

Snow started to fall this morning over the high lying areas of the Western and Northern Cape and is expected to spread to the high lying areas of the Eastern Cape later today, where it could become disruptive in places. Furthermore, snow will spread to the southern Drakensberg tomorrow, with light snowfall possible along the eastern Highveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga on Monday.

Warning to small stock farmers
SAWS advises that the combination of the very cold temperatures with possible snowfall poses a real risk for small stock farmers as well as any outdoor activities.

Strong winds are expected over the western and central interior of the country today, with damaging waves along the west, south and south-east coasts. Windy conditions are also expected over the eastern interior of the country during Sunday and Monday.

The following alerts have been issued:

1. Yellow Level 2 warning for waves resulting in difficulty in navigation at sea is expected between Alexander Bay and Plettenberg Bay, subsiding on Sunday.
2. Yellow Level 2 warning for wind resulting in localised damage to formal and informal settlements is expected over the southern interior of Namakwa, eastern Cape Winelands and Central Karoo districts on Saturday.
3. Orange Level 5 warning for wind that could result in damage to settlements, properties and temporary infrastructures is expected over Dr Byers Naude, Inxuba Yethemba and Enoch Mgijima local municipalities on Saturday.
4. Yellow Level 2 warning for wind that could result in damage to settlements, properties and temporary infrastructure is expected over Joe Gqabi DM, the eastern parts of Chris Hani DM, Koukamma, Kouga, Amahlathi and Raymond Mhlaba local municipalities on Saturday.
5. Yellow Level 2 warning for wind and waves that could result in disruption to ports and difficulty in navigation of small boats is expected between Plettenberg Bay and Port Alfred, spreading to Port Edward on Sunday mid-morning.
6. Orange Level 6 warning for disruptive snow that could result in major mountain passes closed, isolate communities and loss of livestock is expected over Chris Hani district municipality, Senqu, Eundini, Matatiele, Umzimvubu, Raymond Mhlaba and Blue Crane Route, Dr Beyers Naude (Graaf-Reinet area) local municipalities on Sunday and Monday.
7. Yellow Level 2 warning for disruptive snow leading to dangerous driving conditions, some pass closures and isolated loss of vulnerable livestock is expected over Dr Beyers Naude (excluding Graaf-Reinet area), Kou-Kamma, Amahlathi, Mhlontlo and Ntabankulu local municipalities on Sunday and Monday.
8. Yellow level 2 warning for disruptive snowfall is expected over the south-western parts of KwaZulu-Natal and may lead to icy roads resulting in traffic disruptions and isolated loss of vulnerable livestock and crops on Sunday and Monday.
9. Yellow level 2 warning for strong damaging winds which may lead to small vessels capsizing, difficulty in navigation of small vessels and localised disruption of small harbours/ports for a short period of time is expected along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal from Sunday afternoon into Monday.

Advisories: 
Very cold, wet and windy conditions with possible snowfalls are expected in places over the interior of the Western Cape and southern parts of the Northern Cape until Sunday.

Very cold conditions are expected across the Eastern Cape from Sunday, with widespread frost on Tuesday morning.

Very cold conditions are expected over parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo (mainly on Monday, but already over southern Gauteng and the southern Highveld of Mpumalanga on Sunday).

Light snowfall is possible over the extreme eastern Highveld regions and the escarpment of Mpumalanga on Monday, where maximum temperatures will be below 7°C.

The South African Weather Service says it is closely monitoring this weather system and will update the public when needed. It is strongly advised that the public regularly follow weather forecasts on television, radio as well as social media platforms. 

Updated information in this regard will regularly be available at www.weathersa.co.za as well as via the SA Weather Service Twitter account @SAWeatherService.

Numerical weather prediction model data indicating maximum forecasted temperatures for Monday 10 July.

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