'You always find that if you go back a few years, you will find similar weather conditions for this time of the year'
A climate of uncertainty
Summer of discontent
But although the severe rainfall and low temperatures broke 30-year-old records in some towns, experts say "it's not the end of the world", as drier and warmer conditions can be expected in December.
While the western parts of the country enjoyed normal early summer weather, storms lashed Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, claiming at least seven lives by Friday.
Professor Bruce Hewitson, who leads the Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town, said although the cold weather was "unusual", it is not unprecedented.
"When it comes to weather, people tend to have short memories. You always find that if you go back a few years, you will find similar weather conditions for this time of the year,'' he said.
''It's definitely not the end of the world.''
Hewitson said although climates are changing and global warming is having an impact on weather patterns, it cannot be linked to a single event like the cold November snap.
''This is a weather variation. In an El Niño year, we can expect drier weather than usual. But El Niño hasn't really kicked in yet and will only be felt towards the end of the year."
The SA Weather Service recorded record rainfall for this time of the year in several towns across the country, including:
Emergency services were on standby in many areas as fears of flooding increased.
In Rustenburg and Mafikeng in North West, rainfall almost doubled this week compared with the same period last year.
Meteorologist Puseletso Mofokeng said the cold snap should start coming to an end from today but warned that thunderstorms were still expected in the eastern parts of the country.
''You should start seeing the sun again from today when we have a break in the cloud cover,'' he said.
Farmers, too, have been caught by surprise. Agri SA's deputy president, Theo de Jager, said the good rainfall of the past few weeks was a welcome relief, but farmers were holding their breath for the expected dry spell.
''We were warned long ago that this was going to be a dry summer, so we were all surprised at the good rain. Believe me, farmers are smiling. The problem comes when we hit the dry months,'' he said.
Agricultural economist Professor Johan Willemse of the University of the Free State said the planting of grain crops was progressing on schedule.
But he warned that in the Southern and Western Cape the wheat crop had been damaged by unseasonal rain and cold weather, while reduced rainfall in the Eastern Cape is affecting milk production.
Up north, said Willemse, severe frost had damaged the potato crop and reduced supplies. ''The result was record potato prices during the winter in SA amid a recession.''
Farmers would have to rethink their strategies as the risk of losses increased.
"New research and technology is needed to adapt the existing production, instead of new changes that we still do not understand.''
The extreme weather often hits the poor and vulnerable the hardest, said another expert.
In KwaZulu-Natal seven people died this week when freak storms hit the province, while in Gauteng emergency services were on high alert for floods.
A lecturer in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at UCT, Dr Gina Ziervogel, said: "The changing patterns are having an adverse effect on people dependent on the land."
She said poorer communities didn't have the information and resources required to respond effectively to unusual weather occurrences.
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