Watch out! Large swells and strong winds to hit Cape coast
Weather service Saws has warned Cape beachgoers of large swells and strong winds from Wednesday.
A series of cold fronts passing south of the country, generating large swells, will reach the South African coastline early on Wednesday morning.
"The South African Weather Service would like to caution visitors to the South African west and south coasts to be aware of large swell and strong winds from Wednesday December 18, persisting until after the weekend," it said in a statement.
The service predicts powerful swells along the west coast from around 2am on Wednesday morning. These will spread around the coast, reaching the Cape Peninsula by 7am and the Cape south coast by midday.
"These long-period swells will bring high energy to the coastline, peaking along the Western Cape’s west coast and Cape Peninsula regions. High wave energy will move eastwards from there, around the Cape south coast and weakening into the southern reaches of the Eastern Cape," said Saws.
"In each case, the onset of the long-period swell will be followed by a steady increase in wave height. Significant wave heights ranging from 3m to 5m are expected between the Cape west coast and Cape Peninsula, dropping to around 2m for the Cape south coast. Slightly further offshore wave heights may exceed 6m.
"Wave conditions will be accompanied by strong westerly to northwesterly winds, most notably for the southwest coastline.
"While wave energy should dissipate slightly by Friday evening, another system of powerful swells will reach the coast by the early hours of Saturday morning."
Beachgoers are warned to avoid low-lying rocky coastlines and beaches experiencing big waves.
"Beware of long lulls followed by sudden large waves. There is a chance of waves breaking over coastal walkways and reaching further up the beaches than normal.
"Strong winds from the early hours of Wednesday morning, combined with large wave heights, are likely to make coastal sea conditions rough.
"Vessels operating along the South African west, southwest and south coasts should take care."|