SAWS issues three Yellow Level 4 warnings as intense cut-off low looms

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued three separate Yellow Level 4 warnings ahead of an intense cut-off low expected to move into the Western Cape and Northern Cape from Thursday into Friday, 3-4 September, with knock-on effects reaching into Lesotho.

What SAWS has actually warned about

SAWS issued a Yellow Level 4 warning for disruptive rainfall over the Overberg and Garden Route District Municipalities in the Western Cape on Thursday. Flooding of roads and settlements is possible, alongside major disruption to traffic flow.

A second Yellow Level 4 warning covers damaging wind over the Namakwa District Municipality in the Northern Cape. It also covers parts of the Cape Winelands, Central Karoo, and Little Karoo district municipalities in the Western Cape, from Thursday afternoon into Friday.

This warning carries the risk of damage to temporary structures and settlements, injuries, and danger to life from flying debris.

A third Yellow Level 4 warning covers damaging wind and waves between Alexander Bay and Plettenberg Bay from Thursday. This threatens port and harbour disruption and danger to navigation at sea.

SAWS has also flagged a possibility of snowfall over the Drakensberg Mountains of the Eastern Cape on Friday morning, extending into the high-lying areas of Lesotho.

Motorists on mountain passes are urged to stay alert for rapidly deteriorating conditions.

REMEMBER | Here’s what SAWS’s warning levels actually mean, and when you should take action

What this means on the ground, and where it heads next

SAWS describes the incoming system as an intense cut-off low.

It’s expected to bring very cold, wet, and windy conditions to the Western and Northern Cape.

Temperatures could potentially stay below 10°C in high-lying areas.

But the system doesn’t stop there.

Once it develops over the western interior on Thursday, it’s expected to track eastward. This eastward shift plays out across the country over the weekend.

This will bring windy conditions to the Free State, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and eastern North West from Friday into Sunday.

There’s also a signal for severe thunderstorms over the Free State, North West, and Gauteng from Friday afternoon into Saturday evening. This could potentially shift into Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and southern Limpopo by Sunday.

Before any of that arrives, today and tomorrow (1-2 September) stay largely calm nationally.

Expect partly cloudy conditions over the central and eastern parts of the country, with isolated showers and thundershowers possible. Otherwise, it will be fine and warm to cool elsewhere, a genuinely quiet lead-up to a system that’s already been flagged well in advance.

It’s hectic seeing a warning like this land days ahead of the actual system, and reaching all the way into Lesotho too, hey. That’s exactly the kind of early notice worth taking seriously rather than waiting to feel it firsthand.

Are you in the Western or Northern Cape, or do you have family in Lesotho? Are you already making plans around Thursday’s system?