SAWS issues cold front watch for Cape Town, heatwave advisory for Gauteng

Update, Thu 24 Oct: SAWS has updated its advisories and watches for Cape Town and South Africa’s northern provinces.

Original article: It’s late October, and we’re deep into spring. That generally means warmer, drier weather in South Africa’s south-western areas. It also means wetter conditions for the country’s northern regions.

But someone please tell that to this weekend’s weather systems.

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) late on Wednesday issued a number of weather advisories in effect from Friday, and it seems that the two regions are enjoying something of a role reversal this weekend.

Western Cape: heavy rain and flood advisory

Down south, Cape Town and its surrounds can expect a wet, wet weekend, SAWS announced in its first statement on Wednesday.

Sounds a lot like mid-July, doesn’t it?

A cold front is expected over the western parts of the Western Cape on Friday (25 October 2019) and will result in widespread rainfall which could result in some localized flooding in some parts. Strong winds are also expected over the western interior. pic.twitter.com/PklozrPHRj

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) October 23, 2019

A late season cold front is set to bring “heavy rainfall leading to localised flooding” across areas of the province.

Areas affected include the Cape Winelands, Overberg, and the Cape Town metropolitan area — especially its informal settlements.

It also advised residents of “strong north-westerly winds” gusting up to 55 km/h across the Central Karoo and Karoo Hogland on Friday.

Heatwaves affect South Africa’s northern provinces

Meanwhile, in the country’s northern regions, another set of advisories are in effect but there’s no mention of rain at all.

Another #heatwave expected over the north-eastern provinces (Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State, North West) of South Africa starting in some areas already from tomorrow (Thursday) and will last until at least Monday (28 October 2019). Check the advisory below. pic.twitter.com/pIdNLvnnuW

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) October 23, 2019

Instead, it seems that a second heatwave will sweep across parts of the Free State, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo from Friday through to Monday.

SAWS warned that a “heat wave with persistently high temperatures” will affect:

• The eastern North West and Free State from Thursday;
• Mpumalanga Lowveld and Limpopo from Friday;
• The entirety of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng from Saturday (lasting until Monday).

It also warned of hot and humid conditions across the Mpumalanga Lowveld and Limpopo from Friday.

These conditions will spread to all regions within the provinces by Saturday, and lasting until Monday.

Finally, an “extremely hot conditions” advisory is also in effect for the above regions.

Follow South African Weather Service

Weather is fickle and subject to change, so we’d recommend following SAWS on its official Twitter account.

And be sure to bookmark its warnings portal too, where it regularly updates the advisories and more serious information on the daily.

Feature image: Rain in Cape Town in August 2019, by Andy Walker/Memeburn