Severe thunderstorms, heavy rain to hit three provinces on Wednesday

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued severe weather warnings in three provinces on Wednesday.

According to the #weather service, scattered to isolated showers and thundershowers are expected over most parts of the country except over the northeastern regions.

Weather alerts

• A yellow level 2 warning for damaging wind and waves between Saldanha Bay and Cape St. Francis.
• A yellow level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms that can produce heavy down pours, excessive lightning and large amount of small hail over most parts of the West Coast and Cape Winelands Districts including Laingsburg Municipality of the Western Cape.
• A yellow level 2 warning for disruptive rain over the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape and the south-eastern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
• A yellow Level 1 warning for disruptive rain along the coast and adjacent interior between Cape St. Francis and Port Edward.
• Extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over the north west and the north-eastern parts of Northern Cape.

“A cut-off low pressure is expected to affect the Western Cape, the Namakwa District (Northern Cape) and the Eastern Cape until Wednesday,” warned the weather service.

“The public and small stock framers are advised that cold, wet and windy conditions can be expected with possible snowfalls on mountain tops on Wednesday.”

Wednesday’s weather forecast

Gauteng: Fine and cool weather. The expected UVB sunburn index: high.

Mpumalanga: Fine and cold to cool weather, but warm in places in the Lowveld.

Limpopo: Fine and cool to warm weather.

North West: Fine and windy, becoming partly cloudy and cool to warm with isolated showers and thundershowers in the west.

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Free State: Morning fog patches in the east, otherwise partly cloudy and cool weather, with isolated showers and thundershowers over the western parts. It will be windy in the south-west.

Northern Cape: Partly cloudy and windy in the east, otherwise cloudy and cold to cool with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the extreme south where it will be very cold. The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong northwesterly.

Western Cape: Cloudy and cold to cool with scattered to widespread showers and thundershowers. The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong south-easterly but light to moderate north-westerly along the west coast spreading to Cape Point by evening. The expected UVB sunburn index: low.

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Western half of the Eastern Cape: Cloudy and cold with scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the west. The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong easterly.

Eastern half of the Eastern Cape: Cloudy and cold with scattered showers and thundershowers, but isolated in the north-east. The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong easterly.

KwaZulu-Natal: Morning fog over interior, otherwise partly cloudy and cool but warm in the north-east. Isolated showers and thundershowers are expected in the south and east but scattered to widespread in the extreme south-east where it will be cloudy.

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The wind along the coast will be moderate northerly to northeasterly in the north, otherwise moderate to fresh easterly to south-easterly. The expected UVB sunburn index: high.