The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has confirmed that 2 large tornadoes hit the KwaZulu-Natal Province yesterday.
Residents of Newcastle and Tongaat both circulated videos and pictures of tornadoes on social media on Monday afternoon.
The SAWS said in a statement the first tornado occurred between Newcastle and Utrecht over the western interior of KwaZulu-Natal, early yesterday afternoon.
Wayne Venter of SAWS says preliminary investigations indicate that it started off as a rope tornado, which developed further into a cone tornado.
He says rope and cone tornadoes get their names from their narrower shapes, which are closer to the ground and wider at the base of the cloud.
A second, relatively stronger tornado developed around Tongaat, and moved east to the coast near Westbrook and Ballito, where it caused significant damage.
“This wedge-like tornado was stronger and larger. Wedge tornadoes are usually larger and wider from the surface to the cloud base or, in other words, they are wider than they are tall. Wedge/wide tornadoes are often (but not always) categorised as strong tornadoes” said Venter.
South Africa does get tornadoes from time to time, particularly when large and intense weather systems affect the country, confirmation can be found in a journal published by the University of Pretoria in the Sabinet African Journals.
Venter said although a singular weather event cannot be directly correlated to climate change, climatologists agree that these types of weather systems may become more frequent and intense in the future, due to a warming climate.
Pictures: SAWS