Cape Town – Get those warm water bottles and blankets ready, as an intense cold front is expected to make landfall over the Western Cape by Sunday evening.
The intense cold front is set to arrive with strong interior winds, heavy rainfall and cold conditions across the south-western mountainous areas of the Western Cape until next week Wednesday.
Cape Town experienced unseasonably warm weather conditions over the past few days as a result of a “blocking high pressure” that was preventing cold fronts from reaching the coastline and slipping south of the country
UCT Climate System Analysis Group PhD student Stefaan Conradie said the same large-scale "blocking" pattern that drove these high temperatures was predicted to change to a slow-moving low pattern next week.
“We are likely to see very cold, wet and windy weather from Sunday evening to Thursday next week in Cape Town. So, while the start of winter this year has been quite dry, that may well change from next week,” Conradie said.
As such, a media release by the South African Weather Service (SAWS) showed that a series of cold fronts was expected to make landfall over the western parts of the country early next week and move eastwards, affecting most of South Africa.
These cold fronts were expected to result in strong winds, high waves, heavy rainfall, light snow and a significant drop in temperatures.
“The first cold front is expected to reach the Western Cape on Sunday evening. Ahead of this front, strong north-westerly winds between 50-60km/h, gusting up to 70-80km/h, are expected over the southern parts of the Northern Cape and interior of the Western and Eastern Cape from Sunday.
“These strong winds are likely to result in damage to formal and informal settlements as well as possible structural damage in these areas,” the weather service said.
SAWS said westerly to south-westerly waves, with significant wave heights of 4.0m to 4.5m, were expected between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas on Monday morning and afternoon.
Then together with these waves, strong north-westerly winds (50-60 km/h) were expected along this coast which may result in difficulty to navigate at sea.
“By Monday evening, another cold front will reach the Western Cape. As these fronts make landfall, high rainfall amounts are expected mainly in the south-western parts of the Western Cape, especially from Monday through to Wednesday afternoon,” the weather service said.
It added that rainfall accumulations were expected to reach 50-80 mm over the mountainous areas of the Cape Metropole, the western parts of Cape Winelands and the western parts of the Overberg districts between Monday and Wednesday.
“These high rainfall accumulations are likely to cause flooding of roads and formal/informal settlements in these areas,” according to SAWS.