Cape Town - The SA Weather Service said that the weather outlook for the province this week continues to look bleak following the arrival of Monday’s cold front and another one scheduled for Friday.
The weather bureau also predicted scattered rain for the Garden Route during the week and more rain across the province for the weekend.
Forecaster Mbavhi Maliage gave insights into the weather for this week, addressing the second cold front.
“On Friday we’re expecting a cold front to make landfall over into the Western Cape resulting in light showers and rainfall along the coastal regions of province.
“Temperatures will continue to cool down in the Western Cape region but will continue to warm up especially in the lowveld region of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and will be warm over the interior - mainly the Free State, the North West province and also Gauteng.”
Weekly Weather Update 30 August - 03 September 2021 with Forecaster Mbavhi Maliage @Mbavhi_Maliage https://t.co/TFbvJsrx1B
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) August 29, 2021
Meanwhile, Local Government and Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell said that dam levels for the province continue to record high levels for this time of year.
“We continue to see increases in most dams across the province. In August 2016 the level was 56% and heading for record low levels later in that year.
“The average dam level for dams in the province has increased to 81.4% which is 10% higher than at the same time exactly a year ago when the dams stood at 71.7%,” said Bredell.
Mayco member for water and waste Xanthea Limberg said: “Dams supplying Cape Town have, for the second year running, crested the 100% mark this year sooner than in 2020, when dams hit full capacity in October. Prior to that, dams were last full in 2014.
“The capacity of dams supplying the Cape Town metro increased by 2.7% in the last week, from 98.9% the previous week to 101.6%. At the same time last year, dam levels were at 90.3%.
“Daily water consumption for the same period increased to 738 million litres per day, compared with 718 million litres the previous week.”
She said that despite the robust dam levels, residents cannot afford to become complacent in their ambitions for water security, and reducing reliance on surface (rainfall) water.