“It’s quite wet here now,” says At Jordaan, a farmer from the Bothaville district, after a cut-off low caused a severe storm with heavy rainfall in a strip north-west of the town on Monday afternoon.
By Alani Janeke, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
At Jordaan measured about 90mm of rain in just 45 minutes.
He says they are currently in the middle of the planting season, and although the downpour may temporarily delay planting, he has not suffered any major damage on his farm.
Canola Gone, Wheat Knocked Down
Jordaan’s neighbours, Johann Claasen Boerdery, were not as fortunate. The farm, which grows canola, wheat and maize under irrigation, suffered visible storm damage.
“After the rain gauge started overflowing at 90 mm, we stopped measuring. It was raining too hard to continue,” says Wesley Doornhoek, manager responsible for irrigation at Johann Claasen Boerdery.
“The canola has been wiped out and the wheat flattened. The maize is still young, so we hope it will recover.”
The heavy rainfall was highly localised – neighbours reported only 7mm and 14mm of rain, Doornhoek noted.
North of Bothaville, near Nampo Park and in the Vierfontein district, farmers told African Farming they had no rain at all.
Tropical Moisture Meets Cold Fronts
These turbulent weather conditions have appeared in various areas since September as the summer rainfall season begins, while cold fronts continue to move across the country.
Independent agricultural meteorologist Johan van den Berg says that where tropical moisture meets cold air from passing fronts, it can trigger severe storms with heavy rain, hail and strong winds.
In recent years the summer rainfall season has started later, so these kinds of conditions have occurred less frequently.
Van den Berg predicts that such volatile weather could continue until at least mid-November, as cold fronts are still expected to move across parts of South Africa in the coming weeks.
Watch a video of the rain damage on the TLU SA Facebook page.
