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As a cold front makes landfall over the Western Cape from as early as Monday evening July 22, parts of the province will experience a severe drop in temperatures and there is a high possibility of snow over high-lying areas.

Flurries of snow fell across the province over the weekend but the forecasts for this week show the snowfall is not over just yet.

According to the South African Weather Service, general wind speeds of 40- to 60km per hour can be expected across the province, with particularly high wind speeds of 65 to 75km per hour as well as gust speeds of 80 to 100km per hour in the Karoo, Breede Valley and the Cape Peninsula. The West Coast District may also experience these gale force winds on Tuesday. 

As the cold front pass through strong to gale force winds of between 60 and 70km per hour and gusting of 80 to 90km per hour can also be expected along the coastal regions between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas on Monday, then spreading across a larger portion of the coast on Tuesday afternoon, affecting places between Kleinzee and Plettenberg Bay. Winds will start moderating along the west coast on Tuesday evening, while persisting along the south coast until Wednesday morning. 

Due to dry, strong winds and warm conditions ahead of the cold front, the fire index is expected to be high over the interior of the province on both Monday and Tuesday.

Cold air is expected to follow behind the secondary cold front resulting in a drop in freezing level, causing light to moderate snowfalls over the western high ground of the Western Cape, as well as the southern high ground of the Northern Cape on Tuesday evening and spreading to the Cape South mountains on Wednesday morning. 

Disruptive snowfall is expected along the mountain passes such as the Ouberg mountain pass into the Sutherland area. Cold to very cold conditions can be expected across the province, temperatures are expected to drop below 10°C in the Cape Winelands and the Karoo.

Roughly 10 to 20cm of snowfall is predicted along with very rough sea conditions along the southwest, mainly between Cape Columbine and Cape Agulhas, with wave heights between 5- to 6m, reaching 6.5m overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning spreading along the south coast.

Here are a few reports of snow over the weekend, we look forward to sharing more once the cold front has landed.

Picture: Unsplash

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