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Batten down the hatches, Capetonians.

We love to talk about four seasons in a day (braai talk 101), but for the next while, it’s going to be winter and winter only.

Last night, a cold front made landfall, reports News24, with the South African Weather Service (SAWS) indicating that it will bring rain over the southwestern parts of the province.

I assume we have Gauteng Weather’s permission to call it a cold front. They can be rather touchy about such things:

🤦🏻‍♂️Dear SA media… Not every cold spell is a cold front. A cold front is a defined system & NOT code word for every cold spell, as constantly reported. If you read statements properly, you’d get it right. But then again, some aren’t willing to keep paying for meteorologists…

— Gauteng Weather (@tWeatherSA) June 3, 2021

Tell us how you really feel.

According to Anton Bredell, Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs, the first cold front should clear by Wednesday afternoon, but will be followed by a second, which could make landfall on Friday morning:

“The cold, wet weather is coming, and we are urging people to prepare. The bulk of the winter is still lying ahead of us, and we need to be prepared to deal with the conditions as best we can.”

It’s often the wind that really gets you, and that’s expected to reach strong to near gale-force conditions (between 40km/h and 60km/h) later today.

The provincial environmental affairs department’s James-Brent Styan has also said that snowfall is expected on some of the higher peaks of the Western Cape.

An interesting few days in the Matroosberg, then.

In other parts of the province, the weather has already caused havoc this week., reports IOL:

George Municipality spokesperson Chantèl Edwards-Klose said strong winds kept municipal departments busy on Monday with veld fires attended to and put out in Victoria Bay, Hoekwil, Thembalethu and the York Street Cemetery…

Strong winds caused several high voltage power outages with Herold’s Bay, Oubaai, the Airport Line and sections of Pacaltsdorp affected.

A quick Google of Cape Town’s weather suggests you can write off this weekend, too:

Combine that with the arrival of our COVID-19 third wave, and you are excused from most social gatherings.

It’s certainly going to be a torrid few days for Cape Town’s homeless population. If you are able to, for R75 you can buy a homeless person a bed for five nights as part of The Haven night shelter’s ‘Buy a Bed’ campaign.

[sources:news24&iol]