As the first clouds moved in over the mountainous parts of the Eastern Cape on Monday morning, 4 November, small livestock farmers in the southern parts of the country in particular were advised to ensure that their animals had adequate shelter from the snow falling over parts of the south be predicted.
Snow in November is not a strange phenomenon. On 7 November 2018, light snow fell on the Drakensberg in Lesotho, and on 16 November 2017, Jan Scheepers, a farmer from the Eastern Free State, shared exceptional photos of snow on his young corn in the Bethlehem district.A cold front has moved in over the Western Cape peninsula since Sunday afternoon and light rain has been falling over parts of the Western Cape since Monday morning. These precipitations will move eastwards from Monday afternoon. Snow is possible over the mountainous parts of the Western Cape from Monday afternoon, after which the snowfall is expected to extend to the mountainous parts of the Eastern Cape up to and including the morning of Tuesday 5 November.
Johan van den Berg, independent agricultural meteorologist, says the snowfall could already reach the southern parts of the Drakensberg by Tuesday evening, and no further snowfall is predicted from Wednesday 6 November.
“The forecasts indicate that fairly light snow should occur by Monday morning, with the heaviest snow over the Eastern Cape. It is possible that one or two mountain passes in the Eastern Cape may receive heavier snow, but this should not cause major disruption. One of the reasons is that the snow will clear very quickly and melt quickly.”
Eastern Cape farmers in the Rhodes district told African Farming on Monday morning that the first clouds are already moving in over the area.
Danger period for small livestock
Van den Berg says hat rain can occur on 4 and 5 November especially over the Eastern Cape in places such as Graaff-Reinet, Willowmore, Barkly East and Jamestown. Very cold conditions with minimum temperatures below 5 °C and fairly strong south-easterly winds may occur. This can pose a great risk to small livestock.
“The conditions will clear up by Wednesday and it will warm up quickly. The danger period is therefore from Monday afternoon 4 November to Wednesday morning 6 November.”
