Rebecca Jackman
COLD weather is a hot topic in the Cape, with many taking to social media to speculate about snow, hail and ice each Winter.
And every year snow-seekers head to Ceres or Sutherland to find and frolic in the blanket of fluffy white sometimes found in the mountains.
But snow as far South as Cape Town itself is a rare occurrence. In the past snow has fallen on Table Mountain, but rarely settled in the city centre.
The Cape Times looked to archives to see when, in recent years, the mother city has seen snow. And just as Cape Town starts looking forward to Spring, it seems snow has a tendency to arrive in August and sometimes even as late as September.
In late August last year snow covered Table Mountain and other mountains including the Boland, Helderberg, Jonkershoek and Villiersdorp ranges. Snow fell again on Table Mountain and the Helderberg in September.
A mid-August cold front hit in 2012, with heavy snow in Ceres a much lighter covering on mountains around the province.
Following a bizarre spring cold-front, in November 2011 snow was spotted high up on Cape mountaintops in the Hottentots Holland, Groenland and Helderberg mountains and on Du Toits Peak.
In June 2007, most of South Africa was blanketed in white and Cape Town managed to miss out on the snow, but for the first time since 1981 snow covered many parts of Johannesburg.
And in October 2007, many Cape Town residents were shocked to see heavy snow settled in the city centre, but it turned out to be snow made out of bath-foam for the shooting of a television advert.
In August 2005 many were convinced that it had snowed in central Cape Town and snow falling at the seaside in Muizenberg was reported, but the South African weather service disputed the claims. No one could say that it hadn't snowed on Table Mountain, but an image circulating at the time turned out to have been taken years before.
In August 2003 light snowfall was reported on Table Mountain and also in Cape Town suburbs Fresnaye, Rondebosch and Constantia. Some residents were lucky enough to see the falling flakes, but the snow only settled in the mountains and most of it was washed away by rain.
In September 2000 a light smattering of snow settled on Table Mountain, with heavier snowfall over the Boland, Matroosberg and Hex River mountains.
And looking further back, snow has been reported in the Cape for more than 100 years. According to snowreport.co.za, in August of 1906 snow settled heavily in the city centre, in July 1949 snow was seen on Table Mountain and again in July 1951, in May 1952 it snowed on Table Mountain, Devil's Peak and in the Stellenbosch mountains, in August 1972 there was a record of 50cm deep snow on Table Mountain and it was another four years until snow was reported on the mountain again in 1976.