Brace yourself, an ‘intense cold front’ is about to blow in

Heavy rain is expected over the western part of the country from Thursday afternoon. File photo.
Image: Esa Alexander

Brace yourself for another “intense cold front” expected to blow in from the Atlantic Ocean, bringing rain and snow to high-lying areas from Thursday afternoon.

The SA Weather Service (SAWS) warned the front would affect the western parts of the country on Thursday and Friday and spread to southern and central SA on Saturday.

Eskom warned on Wednesday that the approaching inclement weather could put its network at risk and affect the supply of electricity to customers.

“Following a fairly settled week for the western parts of the country, a cold front together with an associated upper-air trough is expected to affect the Western Cape and Northern Cape, mainly from Thursday afternoon through to Saturday.

“Widespread rainfall will set in over the western parts of the Western Cape on Thursday afternoon, spreading to the western and southern parts of the Northern Cape overnight,” said the SAWS

“This rainfall may lead to localised flooding of informal settlements. Flooding may also pose a risk to safe driving on major roads.

“Snowfall is expected over the high-lying areas of the Western Cape and the southern and western high-lying areas of the Northern Cape, mainly from Friday, spreading to the high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape and the Drakensberg region of KwaZulu-Natal during Saturday.

“Significant lowering of local atmospheric freezing levels is anticipated over these areas, allowing for disruptive snowfall in some places. This may result in the closure of some mountain passes and cause traffic disruptions.”

The weather service warned that prior to landfall of the approaching cold front, strong winds of 40km/h to 60km/h were likely to be experienced over parts of the interior of SA.

TimesLIVE

By Kgaugelo Masweneng

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