News24 | Friday’s weather: Snow in Eastern Cape, heavy rain, hail, cold and windy in most parts

Severe weather is expected across multiple provinces, with disruptive rain warnings issued by the South African Weather Service (SAWS) for KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, severe thunderstorms forecast for the Northern Cape and Free State, and damaging winds and snow expected in parts of the Eastern Cape.

Impact-based warnings

Orange Level 6 warning: Disruptive rain resulting in flooding of roads and settlements (formal and informal), danger to life (fast-flowing streams/deep water), displacement of affected communities and loss of livelihood and livestock is expected along the coast and adjacent interior of KwaZulu-Natal up to Richards Bay.

Orange Level 5 warning: Disruptive rain resulting in flooding of settlements, roads and bridges, and disruption to essential services, is expected over Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Ntabankulu local municipalities in the Eastern Cape.

Yellow Level 4 warning: Disruptive rain resulting in flooding of roads and settlements (formal and informal), danger to life (fast-flowing streams/deep water), displacement of affected communities and loss of livelihood and livestock is expected over the eastern and southern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Yellow Level 4 warning: Severe thunderstorms accompanied by heavy downpours, with a possibility of damaging winds, excessive lightning and hail, leading to injuries and danger to life, as well as localised flooding of susceptible settlements and infrastructure, are expected over the extreme east-central parts of the Northern Cape.

Yellow Level 2 warning: Severe thunderstorms accompanied by heavy downpours, with a possibility of damaging winds, excessive lightning and hail, leading to injuries and danger to life, as well as localised flooding of susceptible settlements and infrastructure, are expected over the eastern parts of the Northern Cape (except for the extreme east-central), western parts of the Free State, and the north-western parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Yellow Level 2 warning: Disruptive rain resulting in localised flooding of settlements, roads, and low-lying bridges, and localised disruptions to power supply and communications, is expected over coastal areas and the adjacent interior between KuGompo City and Port St Johns, including the extreme north-eastern interior of the Eastern Cape.

Yellow Level 2 warning: Damaging winds resulting in localised damage to settlements, localised interruption to power and communications and difficult driving conditions are expected over the southern and western parts of the Northern Cape and the northern parts of the Western Cape.

Yellow Level 2 warning: Disruptive snow, resulting in isolated loss of vulnerable livestock and difficult driving conditions, is expected over the Matatiele and Elundini local municipalities in the Eastern Cape.

In the SAWS’s colour-coded weather warning system, yellow indicates a moderate risk of impact that requires caution and awareness, while orange indicates that a higher-risk impact is expected, requiring increased attention and preparation.

The SAWS uses the numbers to indicate the likelihood of weather-based impacts occurring. Levels 2 and 6 are high, level 5 is medium, and levels 4 and 8 are low.

Advisories

Very cold and wet conditions are expected in places over the high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape and the south-western parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

The weather in your province

Gauteng: Cloudy in the south, otherwise partly cloudy and cool to warm with isolated showers and thundershowers.

Pretoria: 14°C – 24°C

Johannesburg: 12°C – 24°C

Vereeniging: 14°C – 21°C

Mpumalanga: Cloudy and cool to cold with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers.

Mbombela: 16°C – 18°C

Ermelo: 10°C – 16°C

Emalahleni: 12°C – 22°C

Standerton: 11°C – 14°C

Skukuza: 18°C – 21°C

Limpopo: Cloudy in the east, otherwise partly cloudy and cool to warm with isolated showers and thundershowers in the south and east.

Polokwane: 15°C – 22°C

Phalaborwa: 18°C – 22°C

Tzaneen: 15°C – 20°C

Musina: 18°C – 27°C

Lephalale: 16°C – 30°C

Mokopane: 16°C – 25°C

North West: Partly cloudy in the north-east, otherwise cloudy, windy and warm with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the extreme south-west.

Klerksdorp: 14°C – 24°C

Potchefstroom: 14°C – 24°C

Mahikeng: 15°C – 27°C

Rustenburg: 15°C – 27°C

Vryburg: 13°C – 24°C

Free State: Cloudy, windy and cool to cold with scattered to widespread showers and thundershowers.

Bloemfontein: 11°C – 15°C

Welkom: 12°C – 18°C

Bethlehem: 9°C – 12°C

Northern Cape: Partly cloudy and cool to cold in the extreme west, otherwise cloudy and cool to warm with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers over the central and eastern parts, but widespread in the extreme east.

The wind along the coast will be strong to near gale south-easterly.

Upington: 11°C – 24°C

Kimberley: 12°C – 19°C

De Aar: 7°C – 12°C

Alexander Bay: 11°C – 21°C

Springbok: 8°C – 19°C

Calvinia: 7°C – 19°C

Sutherland: 3°C – 12°C

Western Cape: Partly cloudy and cool, but cloudy and cold in the east with morning rain in the extreme eastern parts.

The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong southerly to south-easterly, but near gale along the west coast.

Cape Town: 13°C – 20°C

Vredendal: 12°C – 24°C

Riversdale: 8°C – 18°C

George: 10°C – 17°C

Worcester: 7°C – 21°C

Beaufort West: 7°C – 14°C

Oudtshoorn: 9°C – 17°C

Eastern Cape: Windy in places in the north-west, otherwise cloudy and cold with scattered showers and rain, but isolated along the coast and adjacent interior.

Very cold with snowfall over the north-eastern high ground in the eastern half, with widespread showers and rain in the east.

The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-easterly in the western half, becoming north-easterly from the afternoon. In the eastern half, the wind will be moderate to fresh north-easterly, but south-easterly in the south during the morning.

Gqberha: 12°C – 18°C

Makhanda: 9°C – 15°C

Nxuba (Adelaide): 5°C – 13°C

Robert Sobukwe Town (Graaff-Reinet): 7°C – 13°C

KuGompo City (East London): 12°C – 17°C

Port St Johns: 13°C – 18°C

Mthatha: 9°C – 13°C

Komani: 6°C – 12°C

Qonce: 10°C – 13°C

KwaZulu-Natal: Cloudy and cool to cold, but very cold in the south-west. Widespread showers and thundershowers are expected, but scattered in the extreme north-eastern parts.

The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh southerly to south-easterly, becoming strong north of Mtunzini at times.

Durban: 14°C – 18°C

Richards Bay: 14°C – 19°C

Pietermaritzburg: 8°C – 13°C

Ladysmith: 8°C – 12°C

*This weather report was written with the support of Toqan AI.