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The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued warnings for severe thunderstorms, heavy rain and damaging winds in five provinces from Friday.
A yellow level 2 warning has been issued over the central and southern parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as the central and western parts of the Eastern Cape.
A yellow level 4 warning has also been issued as the weather service expects flooding and large amounts of small hail over the southern interior of Namakwa in the Northern Cape and Western Cape until Saturday.
More severe weather is expected in the western and central parts of the Western Cape on Friday (level 6 warning issued), and will move to the central and southern parts of the province on Saturday.
Spokesperson for the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) Simon Zwane also called on motorists to be extra cautious when travelling this long weekend.
Zwane said motorists should also be particularly careful when travelling on municipal roads where sinkholes and potholes have been developing.
“We are also expecting peak traffic volumes on our national roads to increase over the next coming days and with more rain that is expected, most roads are likely to be slippery and visibility also poor due to mist.
“We are also calling on motorists to ensure that their vehicle headlights and rear lights including tyres are in good working condition,” Zwane added.
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Gauteng: Cloudy and warm with widespread showers and thundershowers. The expected UVB sunburn index: Extreme.
Mpumalanga: Cloudy and cool to warm, but hot in places in the Lowveld with widespread showers and thundershowers, but scattered in the east.
Limpopo: Cloudy and warm to hot with scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the central and southern parts.
North West: Cloudy and warm, with scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the east.
Free State: Cloudy and warm, with scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the east.
Northern Cape: Partly cloudy and warm to hot, becoming cloudy in the east, with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers. Cloudy with fog patches along the coast in the morning where it will be cool with light and variable wind becoming moderate south-westerly from the afternoon.
Western Cape: Cloudy to partly cloudy and cool to warm with scattered to widespread showers and thundershowers. The wind along the coast will be light to moderate northerly to north-westerly along the west coast, otherwise moderate to fresh southerly to south-easterly. The expected UVB sunburn index: Very High.
Western half of the Eastern Cape: Partly cloudy and warm to hot, becoming cloudy with widespread showers and thundershowers. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh southerly to south-westerly.
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Eastern half of the Eastern Cape: Partly cloudy and warm to hot, becoming cloudy with widespread showers and thundershowers. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh north-easterly.
KwaZulu-Natal: Partly cloudy and warm, becoming cloudy in the afternoon with scattered showers and thundershowers, but isolated in the east. The wind along the coast will be light south-westerly in the south at first, otherwise moderate north-easterly. The expected UVB sunburn index: Moderate.
Additional reporting by Stephen Tau
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