Cape Town - After several glorious spring-like days, winter is back with heavy rain expected throughout the week, although no more snowfalls are predicted.
Despite oak trees showing bright green leaves and flowers appearing on the West Coast, winter is not over yet.
Monday’s high will be around 15°C, and we can expect about 46mm of rain and gale force westerly to north-westerly winds between Cape Point and Agulhas.
Henning Grobler, a weather forecaster from the Cape Town weather office, said a wintery week was in the offing from Tuesday until Friday.
“We can expect a few cold fronts through the course of the week.
“There will be windy, cloudy and cold conditions with temperature lows of 12°C and 13°C.”
He did not foresee any snow, but said “it’s not out of the question”.
Heavy rain is expected in places over the Cape Metropole and the western parts of the Cape Winelands districts overnight and into Wednesday.
“A bit of a break is expected around Saturday,” added Grobler.
Snow on the Matroosberg near Ceres and around Sutherland late last week saw hundreds of people head to guest-houses in the area to admire the sheets of white.
More than half the guest-houses in Sutherland reported that they were fully booked for the long weekend, while Lizelle Prinsloo, at the Matroosberg Nature Reserve, said their phones had been ringing non-stop with people keen to see the snow.
The Northern Cape is expected to be cloudy and cool to cold, but very cold over the southern high ground. It will be fine in the north east.
Meanwhile NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon advised people to remain safety conscious when out at sea during winter.
“The NSRI cautions sea users that even when the weather looks good, sea conditions normally remain rough and unpredictable, often as a result of deep sea storms - so caution and maintaining a safety consciousness is always advised in winter.”
Cape Argus