By Alani Janeke
From Tuesday onwards, a weak cold front moving across the country could cause light snow, especially over parts of the Drakensberg Mountains.
The reason for the possible snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday (15 and 16 April) is that cold air swept in by the weak cold front across the country from the south will merge with moist air over the central parts and the Drakensberg Mountains. “There is even talk of a cut-off low pressure system that can merge with the cold air from the south,” says Johan van den Berg, independent agricultural weather expert.
Van den Berg says this is not the first time this year that snow has been predicted. Earlier forecasts from the website Snow news indicated possible snowfall over the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape. According to this site, the snowfall that may occur on Tuesday and Wednesday is predicted for the eastern and southern parts of the Drakensberg Mountains. “If it were to occur, however, it will only be light deposits,” says Van den Berg.
Cold and frost
Meanwhile, minimum temperatures of below 5°C are possible over the coldest parts of South Africa, for example, in Sutherland, Barkly East, Molteno and Zastron, before the end of April. “However, the chance of heavy frost before mid-May is slim,” says Van den Berg.
He says the trend over the past decade or two is that frost entry dates are becoming later, but so are the exit dates. “So it’s therefore once again very possible that July and August will be the coldest months and that frost will occur fairly late, possibly until October.”
Also read:
Rainy weather may delay frost but slow crop maturity
Lower Orange River may rise sharply before Easter weekend
Above-normal rainfall predicted for northeast SA until June – weather service
