Get your blankets out: Double cold snap to hit Gauteng this week
Gauteng residents have been urged to double their blankets ahead of a double cold front expected to hit the province this week.
Temperatures in Gauteng are expected to drop close to the freezing mark as the cold weather grips most parts of the country.
Freezing weather
Gauteng Weather has forecast the mercury for Johannesburg on Friday to drop to 0°C, reaching a high of 14°C.
Pretoria is forecast to have a temperature of 2°C, with a high of 16°C.
The cold weather is possibly the last breath of winter as the country moves to warmer temperatures.
Emergencies
The drop in temperatures means that residents throughout the City of Johannesburg will be forced to use all sorts of heating devices to try to warm themselves. This can make them vulnerable to fire incidents at home if heating devices are used unsafely or unattended.
Residents have been urged to use all heating devices safely, including heaters, braziers, paraffin stoves and candles, and not to leave them unattended while in use to prevent fire incidents at home during the extremely cold weather.
ALSO READ: Winter wonderland: Snow in parts of SA – will Gauteng be covered in white?
Weather across SA
Meanwhile, the South African Weather Services (Saws) expects isolated showers along the east coast and the northeastern parts of the country.
Possible damaging winds and waves are anticipated along the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
There is also a forecast for extremely high fire danger conditions in the Nama Khoi municipality of the Namakwa district in the Northern Cape.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather service forecasts partly cloudy conditions over the central and western parts of the country, with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers.
Load shedding
While the cold weather sweeps across Johannesburg and the country, South Africans are relieved that there was no load shedding during winter.
In May, Eskom said it would have more than 2.5GW of power this winter and could avoid load shedding altogether if unplanned breakdowns remain below 13GW.
Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said there would be more power available this year to combat winter.
ALSO READ: WMO's new climate forecast warns Earth is getting hotter and hotter
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