A cold front will bring a wet start to the weekend in the Western and Eastern Cape. While it may not have a significant impact on dam levels‚ it will bring long-awaited relief to residents hoping to top up water tanks or fill buckets and containers across drought-ravaged parts of the Cape.
City authorities are anticipating cutting off the supply to most taps on May 11 to conserve what water remains in the dams by then. And there is no guarantee of significant rain in May.
To see how much rain fell in May (or any other month) over the past few years‚ click on the SA Weather Service historical rain map tool here.
South African Weather Service forecaster Venetia Phakula said on Thursday that the expected rain would bring relief after warm temperatures experienced in the Western Cape over the past few days.
“On Friday we have a cold front approaching the Western Cape‚ bringing with it a 60% chance of rain. For the other provinces‚ a 30% chance of rain is expected in the eastern parts of the Northern Cape‚ the North West‚ Gauteng‚ Free State‚ KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape‚” she said.
Various forecasts have estimated up to 20mm of rain overnight on Friday but Phakula said that weather models on Thursday indicated rainfall of about 9mm in the Western Cape.
Steady rain for days in Gauteng has improved dam levels in the province. The Vaal dam is at 80.9% of capacity. But water expert Dr Anthony Turton warned at a press briefing on Wednesday that a full dam did not mean a steady supply of water.
“The thing about water security in Gauteng … The fact that we’ve got water in the dam today‚ does not mean to say that we’ve got water in the tap tomorrow. And the whole thing that this comes down to is an assurance of supply‚” he said.
-TimesLIVE
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