Cape Town - Capetonians may have packed away their scarves too soon. Just as spring began to tease the city with sunny days, a cold front descended upon the city on Thursday - and was expected to stay the night.
But the Western Cape shivered alone, as Durbanites sweated through a 40°C day and a bush fire raged in the Sabi Sands reserve bordering the Kruger National Park.
The extremity of fire up-country was matched by fear of flooding closer to home, as the South African Weather Service issued a severe warning for the duration of the cold front, predicting heavy downpours over the Peninsula, Overberg and Cape Winelands.
Gale-force winds were expected to whip up to 65km/h.
Facebook page Snow Report SA announced that the Cederberg mountains would get a dusting on Thursday, along with high-lying areas in Ceres and Wellington.
True to the capricious nature of spring, though, Capetonians braced for a storm were glad of their layers when the wet and gusty morning gave way to a mild afternoon.
In the Company’s Garden, a homeless man dozed on a nearly dry bench, where just hours earlier, a tourist group listening to the legend of Van Hunks had had to dash for cover in a downpour.
The front has already begun to leave Cape Town in its wake, and Gauteng can expect to feel the chill later on Friday.
The City of Cape Town’s disaster risk management spokeswoman Charlotte Powell said all city services and external agencies were on high alert “to deal with the consequences of severe weather conditions”.
Meanwhile at the Kruger National Park, dry conditions and strong winds have fanned four separate fires in the past week.
According to a SANParks statement published by My Lowveld, one blaze jumped the border from Mozambique on Friday and is now under control. Another threatened the western side of the park on Thursday.