By Mapaballo Borotho
- South Africa is set for a week of severe weather, with Level 4 thunderstorms expected in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
- Several other provinces, including Gauteng and the Free State, are under Level 2 warnings, while parts of the Northern Cape face high fire danger.
- At the same time, extreme heat has broken temperature records in the Western Cape and Namakwa District.
South Africans are bracing for a difficult weather week after the South African Weather Service issued a Yellow Level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
These provinces are expected to experience heavy downpours, strong winds, and potentially disruptive storm conditions.
“The heavy downpours may lead to flooding of low-lying areas as well as large amounts of hail and damaging winds, which might result in damage to infrastructure,” SAWS said.
Meanwhile, a Yellow Level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms has been issued for Gauteng, the southern escarpment areas of Mpumalanga, the southern parts of KwaZulu-Natal, central parts of the Northern Cape, across the Free State, and parts of the North West.
The weather forecaster has also warned of high fire danger conditions over the Kai !Garib Municipality in the Northern Cape.
In addition, SAWS confirmed that several weather stations across the Namakwa District and the Western Cape have broken long-standing maximum temperature records for March.
“The presence of a strong, slow-moving high-pressure system in the upper levels of the atmosphere has resulted in extremely hot conditions,” the forecaster said in a statement.
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