Weather alert: Extreme heat, fire danger, and damaging winds affecting parts of NC, WC and EC

The South African Weather Service (Saws) has released its latest weather forecast for Wednesday, 12 February 2025.

The weather service has warned of damaging winds leading to localised damage and difficult driving conditions in parts of Northern Cape and Western Cape and hot to very hot and uncomfortable conditions in parts of Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Here’s what you need to know.

⛈️Weather & severe weather alerts for today & tomorrow, 11 – 12 February 2025.
Isolated to scattered showers & thundershowers are expected over the central and eastern parts of the country.#saws #weatheroutlook #southafricanweather pic.twitter.com/S0lQvF799Y

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) February 11, 2025

Weather warnings, Wednesday, 12 February

Impact-based warnings

The weather service has issued a yellow level 1 warning for damaging winds leading to localised damage to settlements and difficult driving conditions for high-sided vehicles on prone routes expected over the central and southern parts of the Northern Cape and the Central Karoo of the Western Cape.

Fire danger warnings

Extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over the interior of the Northern Cape, except the northeast, the interior of the Western Cape and the western interior of the Eastern Cape.

Advisories

Hot to very hot and uncomfortable conditions are expected over the central and western interior of the Northern Cape, the interior of the Western Cape and the western parts of the Eastern Cape.

Extremely hot temperatures are expected over the Central and Little Karoo of the Western Cape and in places over the southwestern interior of the Eastern Cape.

ALSO READ: Weather alert: Disruptive rain in Limpopo, extreme heat in NC and WC and fire danger

Provincial weather forecast

Here’s what to expect in your province on Wednesday, 12 February:

Gauteng:

Residents of Gauteng can expect cloudy and cool to warm weather with isolated showers and thundershowers from the afternoon.

Mpumalanga:

Mpumalanga residents can expect morning fog patches along the escarpment; otherwise, conditions will be cloudy and cool to warm with isolated showers and thundershowers.

Limpopo:

The day will start with morning fog patches along the escarpment, where it will be cool; otherwise, it will be cloudy and warm with isolated showers and thundershowers but scattered in the northeast and along the escarpment.

North West:

Cloudy weather at first awaits North West residents; otherwise, it will be partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers.

Free State:

Residents of the Free State will experience cloudy conditions in the east at first; otherwise, it will be partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers.

Northern Cape:

The day will start with morning fog patches along the coast where it will be warm; otherwise, it will be fine and hot to very hot, becoming partly cloudy over the central and eastern parts with isolated thundershowers from the afternoon. It will be windy in places.

Western Cape:

Western Cape residents can expect morning fog patches over the southern parts; otherwise, it will be fine and hot to very hot but warm along the southwest and south coasts. It will become partly cloudy in the northeast in the afternoon, where it will be windy but cloudy along the southwest and south coasts in the evening. It will be extremely hot over the Central and Little Karoo.

The region’s expected UVB sunburn index is “very high.”

Residents should take the necessary precautions against prolonged sun exposure.

Eastern Cape (western half):

Morning fog patches are expected in the south; otherwise, it will be fine, windy and hot to very hot, becoming partly cloudy with isolated thundershowers in places from the afternoon. It will be extremely hot in places over the southern interior.

Eastern Cape (eastern half):

The day will start with morning fog patches south of the escarpment; otherwise, it will be partly cloudy, windy and warm to hot with isolated thundershowers from the afternoon but scattered in the north.

KwaZulu-Natal:

Residents of KwaZulu-Natal can look forward to morning fog patches over the interior; otherwise, it will be partly cloudy and warm to hot with light morning rain along the north coast and isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers in the extreme west.

The region’s expected UVB sunburn index is “high.”

Residents should take the necessary precautions against prolonged sun exposure.