[imagesource: stevepb via Pixabay]

Yes, yes, how about that weather?

Insert obligatory comment about Cape Town experiencing four seasons in a day and all that.

Fine, but this past weekend it was one season – summer – and it was outta control.

Even when you know the heatwave is coming it still leaves a mark, with meteorologists warning us on Friday that “an upper air high-pressure system will usher in sunny and dry weather across the Northern and Western Cape provinces”.

That it did, and record-breaking temperatures were experienced across the province. Except they won’t actually count towards the records, reports TimesLIVE:

The SA Weather Service (Saws) has announced that the searing weekend temperatures in the Western Cape and Northern Cape at the weekend will not be counted as records due to locally induced heat around two weather stations.

Temperatures climbed to 45.2°C in Cape Town and 45.9°C in Robertson on Saturday and Sunday as the Western Cape experienced a heatwave.

However, the weather service said that after investigations, environmental factors at sites around the automatic weather station (AWS) equipment revealed that locally induced heat influenced the temperature readings of both stations.

Due to this “locally induced heat” Cape Town’s record January temperature remains 39,1°C, which we suffered through on January 25, 2007.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Cape Town also remains unchanged – March 3, 2015’s 42,4°C.

I’m a little disappointed by this. Would have made for a nice talking point in place of COVID-19 and Bitcoin.

We’ll always have the crazy swells from last Wednesday, though.

Strangely enough, this weekend actually saw a record minimum temperature recorded for the Northern Cape for the month of January.

According to a press release from the South African Weather Service, the new record-breaking minimum temperature was measured on Sunday morning in Alexander Bay:

A 59-year-old record goes out the window.

[sources:timeslive&saws]