Capetonians who have been enjoying the brief respite from the cold this week should brace themselves for another cold front, set to hit the city this weekend – but with no snow forecast.
Last weekend snowfalls and heavy flooding sent temperatures plummeting, and claimed the lives of three people across the province. Beaufort West and Three Sisters were brought to a standstill.
Elke Brouwers, a forecaster at the Cape Town weather office, said on Thursday very cold weather was expected to be back on Saturday and on Sunday.
“Cold weather is expected over the north high ground of the Western Cape from (Saturday), with very rough seas and swells of between four and six metres expected between Table Bay and Cape Agulhas.”
She added that temperatures in Cape Town should remain in the mid-teens. “It won’t be as cold as last weekend, and there won’t be any snow,” Brouwers said.
Colin Deiner, provincial chief director for Disaster Risk Management, said they were not anticipating any major problems.
“We have our plans in place every winter.”
Clean-up efforts after the snow hit Beaufort West were completed by Wednesday afternoon, and no weather-related incidents had since been reported, he added.
“We also believe in prevention and make sure that, for example, stormwater drains are cleaned up during the winter season,” Deiner said.
On Tuesday, a woman and her three-day-old baby were rescued and airlifted from the snowy mountains in the central Karoo, near Matjiesfontein, and taken to Beaufort West Hospital.
Cape Argus