New year, same crazy weather? Look out for heavy rain and thunderstorms in Gauteng and KZN 

South Africans have been warned to brace for “disruptive rain” thunderstorms and heatwaves this week with the South African Weather Service (SAWS) issuing alerts for multiple provinces.

Saws issued two yellow-level warnings for inclement weather.

Warnings

A yellow Level 2 warning is in place for severe thunderstorms leading to localised damage to infrastructure, settlements (informal), property, vehicles livelihood and livestock are expected over Mpumalanga, western and northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal as well as the south-western parts of Limpopo.

A yellow Level 2 warning is in place for “disruptive rain” leading to localised flooding of susceptible formal/informal settlements or roads, low-lying areas and bridges is expected over Gauteng, eastern parts of the North West and south-western Bushveld of Limpopo.

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Fire

Saws also warned of fire in a few areas.

“Extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over most parts of the Northern Cape, in places over the south-eastern parts of Free State as well as the northern parts of the Eastern Cape.”

Heatwave

While thunderstorms are forecast for some parts of the country, heatwave conditions will continue in others.

A heatwave with persistently high temperatures is expected in places over the northern parts of the Eastern Cape, lasting until Saturday.

Gauteng

Gauteng will be cloudy and cool with scattered showers and thundershowers but warm in the north.

Mpumalanga

Cloudy and cool to warm with scattered showers and thundershowers but widespread in the east. It will be hot in the Lowveld.

Limpopo

Saws said Limpopo will be cloudy and warm to hot with scattered showers and thundershowers.

North West

The North West will be partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers but cloudy and scattered in the east.

Free State

Residents can anticipate morning fog patches in the east, otherwise partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers in the central and eastern parts.

Northern Cape

Fine and hot to very hot but partly cloudy with isolated showers and thundershowers in the extreme northeast. The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong southerly.

Western Cape

Partly cloudy in the southern parts of the Overberg District, with a chance of light morning rain. Otherwise fine and warm to hot but cool over parts of the City of Cape Town as well as the southern parts of Garden Route.

The wind along the coast will be fresh southerly.

The western half of the Eastern Cape

Cloudy with fog patches in places at first, otherwise fine and warm to hot, becoming cloudy along the coast in the evening.

The wind along the coast will be light to moderate south-westerly, becoming moderate easterly in the afternoon.

Eastern half of the Eastern Cape

Cloudy south of the escarpment with a chance of light rain, otherwise partly cloudy and cool to warm, but hot in the north with isolated thundershowers.

The wind along the coast will be light to moderate south-westerly in the south at first, otherwise moderate easterly.

KwaZulu-Natal

Saws said residents can expect morning fog patches over the interior, otherwise cloudy and warm to hot with scattered showers and thundershowers.

The wind along the coast will be variable becoming light easterly to north-easterly from the afternoon.

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