More heavy rain for Gauteng and central SA this week

Another gloomy and wet week is expected for the central and eastern parts of the country as the present weather system is replaced by another, but some parts of the country will remain gripped by extremely hot weather.

The rain came as a welcome relief after the sweltering heat wave two weeks ago caused high fire-danger conditions.

South African Weather Service forecaster Kumsa Masizana said the reason behind the isolated and scattered thunder showers in the central and eastern parts of the country was a tropical weather system that brushed into the country from the north.

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She said that while the system was still within South Africa, “there is a watch out for the central and eastern parts of the North West, Gauteng and the extreme western highveld in Mpumalanga as there is a high change from heavy rains and localised flooding”.

Masizana said the system was expected to start clearing up by tomorrow and dissipate by Wednesday morning, but there was still more rain to come.

She said that by Wednesday evening, there was going to be a normal summer weather system bringing more rain. The rain was only expected to end on Saturday.

Masizana said the thunderstorms would only affect the central and eastern parts of the country.

“There will be cool to cold temperatures in the eastern parts, including Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, eastern Free State and the Eastern Cape.

“However, there will be a recovery, with warm to hot temperatures in the Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal.

“There will be dry conditions in the western parts of the country, particularly the Western Cape and Northern Cape for the whole week.

“While these parts will be warm until Wednesday, they will experience hot to very hot temperatures from Thursday, with temperatures going as high as 36o C.”

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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