he South African Weather Service is continuing to monitor the weather system that is expected to cause a range of extreme weather conditions over the majority of South Africa for the next few days.

The cause of the extreme weather conditions is the combination of a well-defined cut-off low pressure system (located in the upper regions of the atmosphere), interacting with a cold frontal system.

An additional feature associated with this weather pattern, is the presence of a strong surface high (also known as an anticyclone) that will be ridging very strongly overland, immediately following the passage of the cold front.

Daytime temperatures for South Africa are thus likely to drop significantly over the majority of the country between today and tomorrow, with many areas likely to experience daytime maximums of only 10 degrees Celcius.

The public is warned and advised that, particularly in terms of low temperatures, this system is expected to be quite severe. Furthermore, the public is also urged to be aware that (apart from the bitterly cold conditions) a range of severe/extreme weather phenomena can be expected to develop in association with this rapidly-developing system.

These extreme phenomena predicted by the SA Weather Service forecasters include heavy rainfall, snow (heavy in places over the north-eastern high ground of the Eastern Cape) as well as gale-force winds combined with very rough seas in the open ocean off the coast of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

Snowfalls are expected to continue over the Western and Eastern Cape high ground, Lesotho mountains and southern high ground of the Northern Cape.

Heavy showers and thundershowers are expected at times along the southern coast and interior today, associated with an upper cut-off low that might result in a possible heavy rain along the coastal areas later today.

By tomorrow, Tuesday, 7 August, the cut-off low will migrate towards the south-eastern interior of the country, with associated deep convection (showers and thundershowers) over the eastern parts of the Eastern Cape.

Tomorrow, the sustained ridging action of the surface high pressure system will continue feeding low level moisture into the south coast region, possibly resulting in further heavy rain in the morning over the Cape south coast and adjacent interior.

Information courtesy of the SA Weather Service.