SA warned to brace for bitterly cold weekend

Cape Town - Winter has hit hard as bitterly cold temperatures can be felt across SA, as PE experienced its coldest morning for the year with the mercury dropping to 1.9°C.

South African Weather Service spokesperson for the region Garth Sampson says it was in fact the coldest temperature since 2014 set at 1.4°C, and it would have had to drop a further -0.7°C to set an all-time record.

Added to this Sampson warns the upcoming weekend is expected to be super cold as a cold front with wet weather and possible snowfall is expected to hit the Eastern Cape by Friday afternoon.

"This will be accompanied by gale force winds, very cold temperatures and showers of rain over the southern parts near the south of Somerset East, Hogsback between Plettenberg Bay and the Kei River.

Warnings of snow

Snow is also expected on the southern mountains and will include Baviaanskloof Mountains, Tsitsikama Mountains, Amatola/Winterberg Mountains around Hogsback, says Sampson.

A 30% chance of rain is expected along the coast from Lambert's Bay to the Still Bay area and it will be cool to cold in most of SA.The area in Mpumalanga bordering Swaziland will be warm as well as the northern parts of the Northern Cape.

On Friday, as the front moves north-east, heavy rain is expected in the Western Cape from Langebaan to Caledon. Surrounding areas moving inland can expect a 60% chance of rain, up until Lambert's Bay and George.

Snow report has also forecast snowfall for the weekend across the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KZN.

Sampson says conditions will gradually start to clear from the west on Saturday – however temperatures are expected to remain low over the weekend and are only expected to recover towards Monday, when north westerly winds are expected warm things up.