Big chill in South Africa

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Fri 25/05/2007 20:42

NZ may be having a very warm May, but South Africa certainly isn't:

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Afri ... 19,00.html

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Fri 25/05/2007 20:51

Can't remember the technicalities, but perhaps the Indian Ocean Dipole state is favouring colder water near SA and warmer near Australia at present? If so it might be good(ish) news for Australia.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Sat 26/05/2007 16:09

The places in South Africa (Eastern Cape mostly) reported as getting snow from this week's storm seem to be above about 1000m. Not particularly low by NZ standards, but we're talking about an area at lower latitudes (about 30-34S) than us.

I seem to recall alot of very cold outbreaks affecting SA in May - could be some atmospheric circulation pattern favouring early cold southerly blasts in that part of the world.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Wed 30/05/2007 22:26

South America is also feeling an early winter, with freezing temperatures in Argentina - snow reported in Patagonia and even parts of the Pampas in the last few days. Some Patagonian stations (according to the news items) have been getting as low as -15C.

Edit: Actually temps as low as -17C have been recorded in Patagonia in recent days.

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Wed 30/05/2007 23:43

It will be interesting to see what global May turned out to be for temps. UK turned cool recently but month was still warmer than average. Some high temps in eastern Europe and a 33C at Moscow the other day.