Cold Cape Town, warmer Gauteng: Contrasting weather this week for SA

The northern parts of SA will be warm while the western parts will be wet and cold for the week, says the South African Weather Service (SAWS).

People in Gauteng are experiencing warmer winter weather because of a high pressure system.

"We haven't had any cold fronts far enough over land and we also have an upper air high pressure system over Gauteng. The atmosphere is warming up, causing temperatures to increase," SAWS forecaster Wayne Venter told News24 on Monday.

READ | Cold, wet weather the 'most normal' winter in years, says SAWS

He said temperatures in Gauteng will likely remain in the mid to high 20s for the week.

Over the Free State, the SAWS is tracking a localised storm system which is expected to bring light rain to the northern and central parts of the province.

"It's very weak thunderstorm activity over the central parts of the Free State. We expect light showers from this thunderstorm activity," Venter said.

Fire danger

The cold front passing over the Western Cape brought cold temperatures and rain to the province.

SAWS data shows that over the last 24 hours, the Kirstenbosch station reported a high of 15mm rainfall. It also had the most rainfall in the province for July at 341mm - 137% above the norm.

Ahead of the cold front, the SAWS warned of high fire danger in the south-eastern parts of the Free State, the north-eastern parts of the Northern Cape, the western parts of the North West and the north-eastern parts of the Eastern Cape.

"Usually, ahead of the front you have stronger winds as a result of pressure gradient," said Venter.

He said that the temperatures in Gauteng indicated a milder winter.

"The current temperatures we are experiencing in Gauteng is above normal - around 2-3°C higher than normal for this time of the year.

"We are having a warmer winter."

However, he said that the wet and cold weather in the Western Cape was "in the normal range".

'Above normal'

Last week, long-term SAWS forecaster Kobus Olivier told News24 the climate norm was shifting, resulting in higher temperatures for the northern parts of the country.

"Temperature is a little bit difficult because of the issue of climate change and the normal is actually shifting. We've been getting above normal temperature forecasts."

Historical data from SAWS showed that between 100mm to 200mm of rain fell in the Western Cape in August 2018, with the rest of the coastal areas getting between 50mm to 100mm over the same period.

That rainfall was more than the amount that feel in both July and June of 2018.

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