Brr‚ wild weather sets in across parts of South Africa

While Johannesburg woke to a misty‚ cool morning‚ it is the Free State and Eastern Cape where the South African Weather Service is forecasting strong winds and downpours.

Possible strong straight line winds and heavy downpours have been observed moving towards Clocolan‚ according to the weather service. The Free State as a whole‚ the service added‚ "will be partly cloudy and cold with isolated thundershowers but scattered around Lesotho border".

Disruptive snowfalls are expected over the southern Drakensberg‚ Sneeuberg and Winterberg in the Eastern Cape as well as the south-western high ground of KwaZulu-Natal.

Rob Ansell of Snow Report SA said snow in Underberg in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands fell lightly on Thursday and was expected to clear quickly. “It started snowing there at around 8.30pm last night‚ but it won’t last very long because of the rain‚” he said.

Unlike KwaZulu-Natal‚ Ansell said parts of the Eastern Cape‚ such as Tiffindell‚ would be knee-deep in snow well into Friday night. “It [Tiffindell] is covered in about one metre of snow so there is no way in or out of there‚” he said‚ adding that parts of Lesotho were still experiencing snowfall.

Heavy rainfall is also expected along the coast between Cannon Rocks and Kei Mouth of the Eastern Cape.

The eastern half of the Eastern Cape is cloudy and cold with scattered showers‚ but widespread along the coast. It is very cold in the interior‚ with snow on high lying terrain. In the western half of the Eastern Cape‚ conditions are: "Cloudy and cold with scattered to isolated showers‚ but very cold north of Darlington Dam. Snow is expected on high peaks."

The Western Cape is cloudy and cold to cool. Isolated showers are expected along the south-eastern coastal strips. The wind along the coast will be light to moderate south-easterly along the west and south-west coast at first‚ otherwise southerly to south-westerly.

In KwaZulu-Natal‚ the Weather Service said there was morning fog over the interior. The day is expected to be cloudy and cold to cool with isolated showers and thundershowers‚ but scattered in the south. "It will become partly cloudy from the south in the afternoon." Possible disruptive snowfalls are forecast over the south-western escarpment.

"The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh northerly to north-easterly‚ becoming strong north of Durban in the afternoon.

"It will become near gale (force) from the south in the afternoon."

The Gauteng forecast is milder: "Cloudy and cool with isolated showers and thundershowers‚ becoming partly cloudy from afternoon."

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