IN PICTURES | Snow blankets Cape as cold front descends on parts of SA

The South African Weather Service has warned of expected disruptive snowfalls in places over the high ground and mountainous areas of southern Namakwa of the Northern Cape‚ as well as the West Coast District and Cape Winelands of the Western Cape on Monday.

An intense cold front is moving over the Western Cape and southern Northern Cape‚ spreading into the Eastern Cape. The forecast is for cloudy‚ windy and cold to very cold conditions with isolated showers and rain in places‚ but partly cloudy in the extreme east.

“The public and small stock farmers are advised that very cold conditions with snowfalls as well as wet and windy conditions are expected which will spread to areas over southern Free State and north-western KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow‚” said Madimetsa Thema‚ SA Weather forecaster.

A blanket of white is already covering the area around the Matroosburg reserve near Ceres‚ after overnight snowfall created a winter wonderland.

According to Imilda Ontong‚ Ceres Tourism marketing manager‚ the town is receiving high volumes of visits for the snow sighting.

“We usually get this kind of crowd when we have snow; it is mostly people from around the province. So far we have not heard of any casualties or road assistance requests‚” Ontong said.

“It has been raining constantly since Saturday afternoon and it is still raining. The mountains‚ I saw this morning‚ were covered in snow. [There’s a] very thick layer at the top. The mountains are now covered in clouds‚ I could not take photos‚” said Lise Wheeler‚ secretary at Theewater Sports Club in Villiersdorp.

Wheeler said it was freezing‚ but “locals are very excited about the rainfall. The drought affected us badly‚ but now with the recent rainfalls we have many visitors to see for themselves how the dam is filling.”

Snowfalls are also expected over the high-ground areas of the Eastern Cape‚ including the mountains between Willowmore and Joubertina‚ the Sneeuberg‚ Winterberg and Southern Drakensberg.

There are reports of rescues at Theronsberg pass‚ which links Ceres with Karoopoort.

Here's your five-day weather forecast for Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth: