'Real' winter weather hits SA

The first cold snap of true winter has arrived and the public should prepare for frosty conditions in the coming days, the SA Weather Service (SAWS) said on Thursday.

Forecaster Lulama Pheme said on Thursday and Friday most of the country would get its first taste of "the real winter".

"At the moment [the cold front] is over the central parts of the country.

"It has already passed the Western Cape, the Northern Cape, and the western parts of the Eastern Cape."

These areas experienced some showers on Thursday morning and snowfall was expected on high ground.

The south-western parts of the Northern Cape had a dusting of snow on Thursday morning.

The SAWS issued warnings for disruptive snowfalls over the western high ground of the Western Cape, the southern high ground of the Northern Cape, and the southern Drakensberg on Thursday.

High seas were also predicted between Hondeklip Bay and Port Alfred, but this was likely to subside in the evening.

By Thursday evening, Gauteng, the North West, the Free State, and KwaZulu-Natal were expected to feel the chill.

Pheme said in the eastern parts of the country a warm north-westerly wind generally heralded the approach of a cold front, sometimes accompanied by clouds.

Snow Report SA tweeted that snow had fallen in Ceres, Robertson, Matroosberg, and Theronsberg in the Western Cape and Sutherland in the Northern Cape.

The SAWS predicted that Sutherland, one of the coldest towns in South Africa, would reach a maximum temperature of only five degrees Celsius on Thursday.