Disruptive wind expected in parts of Western Cape on Saturday

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued a yellow level 1 warning for disruptive wind between City of Cape Town and Lambert’s Bay on Saturday, and also between Hermanus and Lambert’s Bay on Sunday, subsiding in the evening.

Extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over Xhariep District Municipality in the Free State.

The weather service also warned of extremely uncomfortable, hot and humid conditions over the Lowvelds of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, spreading to Limpopo Valley on Sunday.

Yellow level 1 warning: Wind and waves: Western Cape: 28/01/2023 12:00 until 29/01/2023 24:00 pic.twitter.com/KWTTVBkBQo

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) January 27, 2023

Saturday’s weather forecast

Gauteng: Partly cloudy and hot. The expected UVB sunburn index: Extreme.

Mpumalanga: Partly cloudy and warm but hot to very hot in the Lowveld.

Limpopo: Partly cloudy and warm to hot but very hot in places.

North West: Partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers, except in the extreme western and north-eastern parts.

Free State: Partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers over the central and the eastern parts.

Northern Cape: Partly cloudy and hot to very hot. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh southerly to south-easterly.

ALSO READ: High fire danger conditions expected in parts of Western Cape

Western Cape: Cloudy and cool in the south-west but warm to hot over the interior becoming windy across the province by afternoon. Widespread rain is expected along the south, south-western coastal areas and adjacent interior in the morning clearing whilst, spreading eastwards into the Overberg coast by late morning and south coast and interior during the afternoon.

The wind along the coast will be strong south-easterly but fresh south-westerly at first along the south coast where it will become strong southerly in the east. It will reach near gale between Lambert’s Bay and Hermanus from afternoon. The expected UVB sunburn index: High.

Western half of the Eastern Cape: Cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers but scattered along the coast and adjacent interior. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-westerly, but southerly in the afternoon.

Eastern half of the Eastern Cape: Cloudy and warm with isolated showers and thundershowers, but scattered along the coast and adjacent interior. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-westerly, but strong at times over East London coast.

ALSO READ: KZN Rains leave trail of damage

KwaZulu-Natal: Morning fog patches over the interior, otherwise partly cloudy and warm to hot with scattered showers and thundershowers in the extreme south-west. Isolated showers and thundershowers except in the north-east.

The wind along the coast will be gentle south-easterly north of Richards Bay at first, otherwise moderate north-easterly becoming moderate to fresh south-westerly from the south towards evening. The expected UVB sunburn index: Very High.

Cheneso still active in Mozambique

According to the weather service, for much of this week, severe tropical storm Cheneso has aimlessly swirled around in the eastern part of the Mozambique Channel, just off the western coast of Madagascar, without much overall movement of the system.

Given that Cheneso is currently classified as a ‘Severe Tropical Storm’, sustained winds around the core, or vortex, of the system can be expected to be fairly damaging, of the order of 89 to 118 km/h.

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Very rough seas, in the region of 4 to 6 metres, can also be expected in the vicinity of the system.

By Saturday, 28 January, ‘Cheneso’ is expected to adopt a more southerly track, passing close to Europa Island.

“Given current guidance from numeric weather prediction models (NWP), the South African Weather Service (SAWS) can confidently state that this system is not expected to directly affect South Africa.”