Weather update: Temperatures to exceed 40°on Saturday

While thundershowers are expected in some parts of the country on Saturday, extremely hot conditions are also predicted, with temperatures to exceed 40 degrees.

Western Cape Tomorrow 's Weather overview: 20/01/2024 pic.twitter.com/elAWhY5eDE

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) January 19, 2024

Weather warnings

The SA Weather Service said extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over the southern and central parts of the Northern Cape, central parts and eastern parts of the Western Cape as well as in places over Dr Beyers Naude, Inxuba Yethemba, Blue Crane Route and Sundays River Valley Local Municipalities of the Eastern Cape.

Advisories

Extremely hot conditions (maximum temperatures >40 degrees) are expected over the Langeberg municipality, Central and Little Karoo as well as in places over the western interior of the Western Cape province as well as in places over the western interior of the Eastern Cape province tomorrow (Saturday 20/01/24).

Extremely uncomfortable and very hot conditions are expected in places over the Cape Winelands, Central and Little Karoo of the Western Cape.

Saturday’s weather forecast

Gauteng:

Fine in the morning, otherwise partly cloudy and warm.

The expected UVB sunburn index: High

Mpumalanga:

Cloudy in the east with a chance of morning drizzle along the northern escarpment, becoming partly cloudy and cool to warm.

Limpopo:

Cloudy in the east with a chance of morning drizzle along the escarpment, becoming partly cloudy and cool to warm but hot over the extreme south-western Bushveld.

North West Province:

Fine in the morning, becoming partly cloudy and warm.

Free State:

Fine in the morning, becoming partly cloudy and warm, with isolated showers and thundershowers over the southern parts as well as the Lesotho border.

Northern Cape:

Cool along the coast with morning fog, otherwise fine and warm to hot but very hot in the north, becoming partly cloudy with isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers, except in the extreme west.

The wind along the coast will be light southerly, becoming light to moderate north-westerly from late morning.

Western Cape:

Morning and evening fog along the west coast, otherwise fine and hot to very hot, but warm in the west.

It will become partly cloudy over the extreme north-eastern parts, where isolated afternoon thunderstorms are expected, with extremely hot conditions in places over the eastern interior.

The wind along the coast will be light to moderate north-westerly to westerly, but southerly to south-westerly along the south coast.

The expected UVB sunburn index: Extreme

Eastern Cape (western half):

Morning fog patches in places over the interior, otherwise fine and warm to hot, but very hot to extremely hot in places.

It will become partly cloudy with isolated afternoon thunderstorms in the north.

The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh north-easterly, reaching strong in places.

Eastern Cape (eastern half):

Morning fog patches in places south of the escarpment, otherwise fine and warm to hot, becoming partly cloudy with isolated afternoon thunderstorms in the north.

The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh north-easterly, becoming strong in the afternoon.

KwaZulu-Natal:

Morning fog patches over the interior, otherwise partly cloudy and warm with isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers in the west.

The wind along the coast will be moderate southerly to south-easterly north of Durban, otherwise moderate to fresh easterly to north-easterly, spreading to Cape St Lucia by evening.

The expected UVB sunburn index: Very High