Gauteng braces for storms, hail

Brace yourself for a stormy afternoon on Monday in Gauteng.

Severe thunder storms accompanied by hail are expected in the province. South African Weather Service forecaster Dipuo Kawana said that the storm activity could be severe.

Storm activity is also expected in parts of the North West‚ Free State‚ Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

“For Gauteng we are looking at 60% thunder showers. We have issued an alert that the storm we are expecting might be severe. The thunder storms might be producing hail as well as strong gusty winds‚” said Kawana. Temperatures will peak at 23°C in Johannesburg and 25°C in Pretoria.

In Durban heavy rains are also expected but the rainfall will not be continuous. The rain will be contained to the coastal areas of the province.

“In the Durban area we are looking at 80% chance of showers and thunder showers later today‚ but the rain will be intermittent. The rain is expected to hit by midday. Maximum temperature for Durban will be 22°C‚” said Kawana.

Capetonians woke up to strong south easterly winds‚ reaching speeds of 50km/h in some parts of the city. Kawana said the wind would drop to about 37km/h by lunch time.

“For the Cape Town area we are expecting partly cloudy conditions‚ with no rain with a maximum of 19°C‚” said Kawana.

The weather service said that an “intense cut-off low system” would affect the eastern parts of the Western Cape‚ south-eastern Northern Cape‚ Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on Monday.

Stock farmers were warned to expect very cold conditions in high-lying parts of the Eastern Cape and south-eastern Northern Cape on Monday‚ spreading to KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.

Light snowfalls were expected in parts of the Eastern Cape‚ Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.