The SA Weather Service urgently needs a R30-million investment to help improve its infrastructure and communication.
This was revealed by CEO Jerry Lengoasa on Thursday in Pretoria.
The service organised the briefing to give an update on the two storms that hit Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal this week.
He said some of the service's monitoring equipment was not working because of a system breakdown.
"Investment in infrastructure is urgently required. We require increased investments in the capability to forecast severe thunderstorms, including tornadoes," said Lengoasa.
In the face of changing climate, extreme weather conditions were expected to increase; hence South Africa needed to upscale its equipment, Lengoasa said.
A severe thunderstorm with strong winds hit parts of North West, Gauteng, eastern Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo this week.
Tornadoes were also sighted in Gauteng, Free State and Delmas in Mpumalanga.
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