DURBAN - THE weekend’s snowfall over the Drakensberg and surrounding areas could be the last cold front the province sees before spring’s expected warmer conditions.
This was according to South African Weather Service (SAWS) forecaster Wisani Maluleke, who also added that no further snow was expected to fall.
Maluleke said the expectation was that this could be the last of the worst cold fronts and we may be “saying goodbye to winter”, adding that one never knows what could happen with unpredictable weather patterns.
Maluleke said snow began to fall on Friday at midnight and continued into Saturday.
“The areas affected by snow, which the satellite showed this morning, were mostly over the Drakensberg, Underberg and Giant’s Castle areas, and even some parts of Kokstad, among other areas,” he said.
However, satellite images yesterday afternoon showed that the snow seen earlier in the day had started melting, with remaining snow seen over the highest peaks of the Drakensberg mountains.
Maluleke said temperatures at the weekend were very cold, with some areas experiencing very low minimum temperatures.
“In the Durban area, our minimum temperature was around 9°C, which is quite low for Durban temperature standards at this time of the year. Then, at Underberg, the minimum temperature went to around -7°C which is very low,” he said.
Maximum temperatures in Durban yesterday reached about 18°C.
“However, we do expect the temperatures to start recovering from today, where maximum temperatures in Durban are expected to go above 21°C. In some areas, north of Ulundi, temperatures are expected to reach around 25°C,” said Maluleke.
On Saturday, provincial Transport Community Safety and Liaison MEC Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni issued a notice appealing to motorists to be extra vigilant when travelling in KZN as some roads were wet and slippery.
The KZN Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs said no major incidents had been reported as a result of the poor weather conditions.
THE MERCURY