Weather Record + Warning

Record:

Highest Daily Rain 45.4 2006-01-02 78.8 2008-01-28
Standerton

Fire Warning

Conditions which could lead to the development and spread of runaway fires are expected in places in the Cape Metropole, Swartland, West Coast District, Boland and the Breede River Valley.

Weather Warning

Heat wave conditions are expected over the interior of the Western Cape as well as the western parts of the Northern Cape today, persisting until Sunday.
Conditions favourable for the development and spread of runaway fires are expected in places in the Boland area.

National Weather + Fire Warning

Floods

Isolated heavy falls of rain which may lead to localized flooding are possible in places over the western parts of Limpopo Province.

Fire

Weather conditions favourable for the development and spread of runaway fires are expected in places in the Cape Town Metropole, Boland and Swartland.

New Climate Records Yesterday + Weather Warning

Disturbed weather patterns, essentially weather chaos, is what Climate Change is all about. Warming (leading to droughts and fires) is a trend, but so is freaky cold weather in midsummer, floods in a dry season, that sort of thing. Have a look at the climate records below. All are for one day, yesterday.

Lowest Maximum 19.2 1974-01-26 18.3 2008-01-09
Skukuza
Lowest Maximum 22.3 2006-01-09 21.1 2008-01-09
Mbazwana Airfield
Lowest Maximum 11.6 2003-01-10 11.1 2008-01-09
Ermelo Weather Office
Lowest Maximum 18.0 2003-01-24 15.8 2008-01-09
Pretoria Unisa
Lowest Maximum 17.9 1996-01-28 17.3 2008-01-09
Oudestad
Lowest Maximum 15.7 1996-01-28 13.7 2008-01-09
Lydenburg
Lowest Maximum 17.7 1994-01-25 15.3 2008-01-09
Nelspruit
Lowest Maximum 13.0 1994-01-25 12.1 2008-01-09
Graskop Aws
Lowest Maximum 15.8 1994-01-24 15.2 2008-01-09
Springs
Lowest Maximum 15.4 2000-01-14 14.3 2008-01-09
Lichtenburg
Lowest Maximum 19.6 2000-01-17 17.9 2008-01-09
Hoedspruit
Lowest Maximum 18.8 1996-01-28 18.7 2008-01-09
Marken
Lowest Maximum 18.3 1972-01-23 16.5 2008-01-09
Phalaborwa
Lowest Maximum 20.5 1962-01-24 19.9 2008-01-09
Punda Maria

National Weather Warning:
Very cold conditions are expected on the Mpumalanga escarpment.

Weather Warning: Gauteng + New SA Climate Records

Thunderstorms over the southern parts of Gauteng and central and eastern Free State may become severe with a risk of large hail and/or damaging winds.

Highest Daily Rain 84mm 1984-01-29 91mm 2008-01-03
Badplaas- Pol
Lowest Maximum 19.2mm 2006-01-08 18.5mm 2008-01-03
Ngqura (Coega)

Lightning was cracking and crashing aginst my windows for a large part of last night. Joburg is amazingly atmospheric weatherwise, more so than Bloem, despite having slightly milder summer and winter temperatures. The thunderstorms here are terrific.

New Climate Record + Warning

Bloemfontein is experiencing a very wet summer this year, with double the average (60mm) monthly rainfall (whilst nearby Welkom and Kimberley are experiencing very average conditions). This time last year Bloem was experiencing the opposite: almost no rain whatsoever in December and January.

Latest Climate Record

Highest Minimum 24.7 2003-01-20 25.8 2008-01-02
Richards Bay Airport

Warning:

Hot and humid conditions leading to dangerously high levels of discomfort are expected in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal and the lowveld.
Thunderstorms in the central and eastern parts of the Eastern Cape may become severe, with a risk of large hail and damaging winds.

Weather Warning: Gauteng

Heavy falls of rain are possible in some places in the eastern half of the Northwest province and southern Gauteng.

National Weather Warning

Heavy falls of rain will persist in the southern Karoo, Eden District and eastern parts of the Overberg District, and the south coast of the Eastern Cape.

Heavy falls of rain are also possible in places along Limpopo escarpment, Mpumalanga escarpment and the eastern highground as well as KwaZulu-Natal northern interior.

KwaZulu and Gauteng Rainfall Records, Weather Warning And Weekend Weather

Rainfall records

Looking at the table of rainfall figures below one can see that a number of places received heavy rainfall, with Durban, Greytown and Pennington South breaking their previous 24-hour rainfall record for November. It is also interesting to note that on this one day Durban received 251% of its normal rainfall for the first ten days of the month, while Mount Edgecombe received 227% and Richards Bay 165%.

NVDL: Many of the previous records are recent, 4 out of 6 between 2000 and 2006. Climate change will affect SA by creating a vastly wetter Eastern Region, and drying the Western Interior. All areas will be more susceptible to storms, and extreme weather - floods and droughts.

Also yesterday:
Highest Daily Rain: Was - 49.4mm (2001-11-24) Now: 58.0 (2007-11-06) Witbank

Warning:
Isolated heavy falls of rain are possible in the escarpment and lowveld areas of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, including the Soutpansberg.

Weekend Temperatures:


More:

Icebergs passing north of SANAE IV along the coast of Dronning Maud Land
Serious Beach Erosion continuing along the KwaZulu-Natal Coast
Gauteng Snow
The Legacy of Tropical Cyclone Gamede
Sea Level Pressure Analysis and Satellite-derived Ocean Surface Wind Fields

ALERT: National Weather Warning

Very cold conditions are expected in places on the highveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga.

Severe thunderstorms with a possibility of heavy falls of rain, strong, gusty winds and damaging hail are expected in places over Gordonia, the Upper Karoo and the northern interior of the Eastern Cape.

ALERT: National Weather Warning (Issued 241007 5AM)

Gale force south-westerly winds are expected between East London and Kosi Bay, moderating from the south later.
Very cold conditions are expected in places in the Eastern Cape, south-western high grounds of Kwa-Zulu Natal and Lesotho.

Weekend Forecast for Johnannesburg and Bloem:

JHB: 11/14
BFN: 14/24

Bloem's a good place to be this weekend; warmer, the Boks' parade (for more accessible in a smaller city), and the Currie Cup Game.

National Warning (issued by WeatherSA.co.za)

NVDL: Is it snowing anywhere yet?

Very cold conditions are expected on the north-eastern part of the Eastern Cape and western interior of KwaZulu-Natal as well as southern highveld of Mpumalanga Province.

Issued on Wednesday, 10 October 2007 at 05.00

SA Weather Services STORM Warning!

South African Weather Services has issued a High Importance Warning to Gauteng regarding serious storms TODAY, 08 October 2007. They have advised that motorists avoid travelling between 18:00 and 20:00 today. Please try to get home safely BEFORE the storms begin.

National Warning - Issued on Monday, 8 October 2007 at 06.00

Very cold conditions are expected to persist over the highground areas of Western and Northern Cape, as well as over the northern mountains of Eastern Cape and south-western and western interior of KwaZulu-Natal.

Heavy falls of rain are expected over northern KwaZulu-Natal, north-eastern Free State as well as the eastern highveld of Mpumalanga and Gauteng. Severe thunderstorms, associated with strong, damaging surface winds are expected in late afternoon and evening over the eastern highveld, Gauteng, the southern highveld of Mpumalanga and extreme northern Free State.