Heatwaves will see temperatures at 41° in places

This comes after the parts of the North West province experienced extreme thunderstorms this week that led to horrific damage to infrastructure, including schools, homes and clinics. Reports stated that the affected area experienced large hail and winds at 51km per hour, enough to uproot a tree.

South African Weather Service (SAWS) forecaster Vanetia Phakula said they were not expecting this extreme weather for the rest of the week. Instead, they expected extreme hot weather across the country, going up to 41 degrees in some areas.

“There will not be much rain for the rest of the week. We may be seeing a few isolated showers in parts of the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and North West. Apart from that, the high pressure system will be resulting in heatwaves across the country.”

She explained that while the heatwave would be subsiding in the Western Cape today, it would continue until Friday in the Free State, Eastern Cape and North West. The heatwaves would then travel up to the northeastern parts of the country, including Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga and only dissipate on Sunday.

“We might be receiving cold fronts because it is the cold front season, but they will just brush through and will not be affecting the weather systems. We are also not expecting anything severe like the storms in North West, just hot temperatures for the week,” said Phakula.

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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