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Gautengers have been warned to brace for extremely chilly weather conditions from Wednesday, as a cold front makes its way inland.
The strong cold front made landfall in Cape Town on Sunday night with the South African Weather Service (Saws) warning residents of icy conditions sweeping over the province for the rest of the week.
The adverse weather conditions have brought intense strong winds and heavy downpours in most part of the province.
“These cold fronts are expected to result in strong winds, high waves, heavy rainfall, light snow and a significant drop in temperatures,” warned the weather service.
Emergency services remain on high alert for any eventualities.
Forecasters said temperatures are expected to drop significantly until Wednesday.
Gauteng Weather said the intense cold front will also be sweeping into this province.
“Strong cold front to make landfall in the cape on Sunday evening and expected to reach Gauteng by Wednesday.”
It has warned of extremely low temperatures of between 0 and 4 degrees.
Johannesburg will see temperatures of 2 degrees on Monday with the mercury plummeting to 0 on Wednesday and Thursday.
Pretoria is also expected to see very low temperatures of between 2 and 3 degrees.
Meanwhile, the freezing temperatures are likely to put pressure on the electricity grid with the princes of darkness last week warning that the national grid was under strain.
“While no load shedding is currently anticipated, Eskom cautions the public that due to the continued shortage of generation capacity, the power system will be very constrained for this evening,” it said in a statement.
“Should there be any significant breakdowns, load shedding may be required at short notice, most likely during the evening peak of 17:00 – 22:00.”
On Sunday night, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha tweeted there was a total demand 28,743MW with the current availability at 29,742.
The cold weather conditions will also likely force those living in informal settlements to use heating that may be a safety hazard and, in the process, making themselves vulnerable to fire incidents as they try to keep warm.
Residents have been advised to make sure that all heating devices such as heaters, paraffin stoves, candles, imbaulas, are not left unattended or with young children while in use so that emergency services can prevent fire incidents.
According to the weather service, the temperatures will only start increasing towards the end of week.
ALSO READ: Cold front alert: Weather service warns of heavy rain, snow and significant drop in temperatures
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