Snow and rain forecast for Eastern Cape as winter starts to howl in
TEMPERATURES are set to plummet and snow is forecast for mountains in high-lying parts of the Eastern Cape as the first significant cold snap of the season is expected to arrive this weekend.
Temperatures in the interior are expected to reach maximums of 12°C and 13°C, while Port Elizabeth’s maximum temperature is set to drop from 21°C today to a chilly 16°C tomorrow.
While a similar cold front hit the region last weekend, the Port Elizabeth Weather Office said, this system would lead to a temperature drop ahead of winter.
“This system will cool things down significantly [tomorrow] – reaching very cold conditions in the north – the first significant cold snap of the season. It will also be a quick-moving system, only cooling things down for [tomorrow],” senior forecaster Quinton Jacobs said.
He said conditions in the Eastern Cape would give way to icy cold and wet weather today and tomorrow and there might also be disruptive snow in the Drakensberg.
Jacobs said there would be a strong frontal system moving through the Eastern Cape, starting this morning in the west and spreading to the east overnight.
“Conditions behind this frontal system are expected to improve from the west [tomorrow],” he said.
High seas with wave heights from 6m to 9m are expected between Cape St Francis and Port Alfred today and tomorrow.
Gale-force southwesterly winds of at least 62km/h are also expected along the coast between Cape St Francis and Cannon Rocks, with strong winds expected in places over the interior from midday tomorrow, subsiding towards the evening.
“Port Elizabeth has an 80% chance of light to moderate rain and showers [this] afternoon into [tomorrow] morning. Winds are expected to reach 50km/h to 60km/h with gusts of 75km/h to 80km/h.”
Jacobs said snowfalls were expected on the northern mountain ranges across the Eastern Cape, starting late this evening in the west and spreading to the east by tomorrow morning.
The snowfalls are expected to be light and should not create any disruptions, but could become disruptive in the Drakensberg tomorrow morning.
Snowfalls were expected over the Sneeuberg and Winterberg ranges and the southern mountains overnight, spreading to the northeastern mountains tomorrow morning.
Jacobs said the lowest temperature in the Eastern Cape tomorrow would be 12°C at Queenstown.
Other temperatures include Grahamstown, Graaff-Reinet and Mthatha at 13°C, East London, Plettenberg Bay and Somerset East at 14°C and Port Alfred, Alice and Hogsback at 15°C. Uitenhage would reach 18°C and Jeffreys Bay 17°C.
