Intense cold front to bring severe weather to Western Cape, Eastern Cape

News24

23-06-2025

A cold front is expected to affect the Western Cape and Northern Cape this week.
The Eastern Cape is also likely to be affected by the cold and wet temperatures.
The cold front is expected to bring snowy conditions in high-lying areas.
Another cold front could affect the already weather-battered Eastern Cape, where more than 90 lives were lost earlier in the month due to adverse weather conditions.
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) confirmed that an intense cold front will bring icy conditions to the Western Cape and Northern Cape before moving eastwards.
Cold conditions are expected over the south-western parts of South Africa from Wednesday to Friday, bringing a significant shift in weather conditions across the region.
The system is expected to bring heavy rainfall with a risk of localised flooding over the western parts of the Western Cape on Wednesday and Thursday.
There will also be strong and gusty winds over the interior that may cause localised damage to structure and could uproot trees.
Rudzani Malala, head of the SAWS' Disaster Risk Reduction department, said that cold to very cold conditions can be expected, along with possible snowfall over the western mountain ranges of the Western Cape, spreading into the south-western interior of the Northern Cape.
Weather warnings in place are a Yellow Level 4 warning for damaging waves from Wednesday evening, Yellow Level 2 warning for damaging winds on Wednesday, and Yellow Level 2 warning for disruptive rainfall on Wednesday until Thursday morning.
City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Sonica Lategan said that the City is preparing for the expected intense cold front.
'The Disaster Risk Management Centre has alerted all relevant City departments and external partners to be on standby for potential impacts from the forecast,' she said.
'We ask that the public take heed of the warnings and do as much as possible to safeguard their properties during the forecast period, like waterproofing, clearing gutters and digging trenches to lead water away from their structures.'
Gale-force winds and very rough seas, with wave heights between 5.5 metres to 7.5 metres, can be expected along the coastlines of the Northern Cape and Western Cape.
Malala said:
As the system progresses eastwards, it will affect the Eastern Cape, a region already vulnerable to weather-related impacts. The key concern is the strong damaging winds expected across most parts of the province on Thursday.
Interior winds are expected to pick up and spread over the remainder of eastern provinces on Thursday and Friday, with daytime temperatures dropping to the cold category.
Malala said the briefing 'comes at a time when the country is still struggling to come to terms with the misfortune that befell the people of the Eastern Cape earlier this month, resulting in dozens of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of people'.
'You may recall that days ahead of the disaster in question, we issued a media release followed by several warnings, one of which was subsequently upgraded to an Orange Level 9, with impacts including widespread flooding of roads and settlements, and danger to life due to fast flowing streams or deep water, among other things. Despite our joint efforts, disaster still struck. This says to us more still needs to be done,' he said.
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On Monday, the Eastern Cape provincial government confirmed that 95 bodies have been recovered across various districts. This includes two bodies of teenage males discovered on Sunday afternoon.
Out of the recovered bodies, 86 have been identified and collected by their families and processes are under way for the identification of the remaining bodies.
'The integrated search and recovery teams were in the past week boosted by the presence of the South African Defence Force members who continued with the search, working tirelessly to locate and recover any possible remaining bodies. From today, the search and recovery teams will be joined by a team deployed from the North West provincial government, increasing the number of teams to four,' said Eastern Cape Acting Premier Mlungisi Mvoko.