Cold Front brings chance of light snow for South Africa, Lesotho and Drakensberg

Last Updated on 4th August 2020 10:52 AM by AfriWX

Possibility of Light Snow

A cold front brings with it a chance of light snowfall across parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape (extreme South), Lesotho and the Drakensberg mountain range of KwaZulu-Natal over the next 2 days or two.

Cold Front brings chance of light snow for South Africa, Lesotho and Drakensberg 1

The Swartberg mountain range could start to see some light snow from today while the chances of better snowfalls are more likely from Wednesday through Thursday.

cold front storm report and snow report south africa

Another cold snap ahead

There will be a noticeable drop in temperatures as the first of a series of strong cold fronts has penetrated south Namibia and nearly all the Cape Provinces.

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Gale force winds expected

Strong south-west gales are expected on the coastal regions of the south-east and east, especially Kwazulu-Natal on Wednesday. The cold fronts will be enforced and again pushed northwards by an encroaching anti-cyclone.

Weather Forecast for the next few days from Mike Berridge of Weather Today Southern Africa

Mike BVerridge weather forecast — Image Courtesy: Mike J Berridge

There are three observations to note here:

The first of a series of strong cold fronts (“F2”) has penetrated south Namibia and nearly all the Cape Provinces. The next in the series is “F3”. The intense anti-cyclone “HA2” in the Atlantic Ocean has remained temporarily stationary, so the feed of very cold air from very far south will continue to flow northward towards the south coast. New fronts will keep forming within this stream of very cold air.
The weak rain areas will tend to move from west to north-east. Because the diagram must cover an entire day, I have indicated the times when showers are expected. The drizzle on the Cape west coast will be morning only (a.m.), and not widespread. Around noon some showers will develop in the east Cape highlands. Clouds will then proceed to form in KZN with light rain at the coast and evening drizzle commencing inland up to the escarpment. By mid-night, the drizzle will reach Eswatini and probably the city of Maputo in Mozambique.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the “stage” will be set for a Thursday drama. The atmospheric pressure will fall over the southern interior. This will stall the fronts and force them into a reverse direction. I have in one of my earlier bulletins on this system mentioned that severe disturbances are possible when very cold air meets warm humid air from the north. This will happen very early on Thursday to produce a severe frontal Low out at sea off the south-east and east coasts of the Republic. The resulting pressure gradient as the anti-cyclone edges in closer will set up strong south-west gales on the coastal regions of the south-east and east (especially KZN) throughout the day. The cold fronts will be enforced and again pushed northwards by the encroaching anti-cyclone