South Africa's turn for heavy rain and snow

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Thu 03/08/2006 23:40

http://www.southafrica.info/what_happen ... 030806.htm

TV1 News also reported snow to low levels in South Africa tonight. Of course, SA is closer to the equator than NZ, so 'low levels' most probably means significantly higher altitudes than here. For example Johannesburg, which has had its 1st snowfall for 8 years, is at about 1800m asl.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Fri 04/08/2006 20:56

I've had a look at the online news reports about this SA weather, and it turns out the airflow has been a strong southwesterly over there. Obviously a cyclonic southwesterly, enough to bring heavy rain to the southern Cape area, and widespread snow about the veldt. (extending to areas far from the sea)

I've also found the altitude of Johannesberg city is actually around 1700m, while the city of Bloemfontein further south (where snow also fell) is about 1300m asl. The last recorded snowfall in central Johannesberg apparently was back in 1981. Rainfall totals of up to 270mm (over no more than 2 days) were recorded at Port Elizabeth in the eastern Cape.

snowstar · Unread post by **snowstar** » Wed 23/08/2006 08:51

tich wrote:I've had a look at the online news reports about this SA weather, and it turns out the airflow has been a strong southwesterly over there. Obviously a cyclonic southwesterly, enough to bring heavy rain to the southern Cape area, and widespread snow about the veldt. (extending to areas far from the sea)

I've also found the altitude of Johannesberg city is actually around 1700m, while the city of Bloemfontein further south (where snow also fell) is about 1300m asl. The last recorded snowfall in central Johannesberg apparently was back in 1981. Rainfall totals of up to 270mm (over no more than 2 days) were recorded at Port Elizabeth in the eastern Cape.

Interesting Tich, I grew up in SA and lived in the Cape Peninsula, we would normally get snow on the Helderberg Mountain ranges (they ring the Western Cape) in the winter. I can only ever remember there being snow on our roof once in all the 20 odd years that we lived there. World weather patterns are certainly changing. My father always believed the weather ran in 20 to 30 year cycles.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Tue 29/08/2006 15:00

Interesting Tich, I grew up in SA and lived in the Cape Peninsula, we would normally get snow on the Helderberg Mountain ranges (they ring the Western Cape) in the winter. I can only ever remember there being snow on our roof once in all the 20 odd years that we lived there.

How high above sea level were you on the Cape Peninsula?