This article was compiled by Wayne Venter and Lehlohonolo Thobela and Edited by Vanetia Phakula.
Large parts of South Africa’s interior have experienced heat waves in recent months, with a particularly intense and prolonged heatwave lasting for two weeks during the first half of December 2024.
This heat wave resulted in several new temperature records, both maximum and minimum, across various provinces. In addition to the extreme heat, the central and eastern interior of the country has seen significantly less rainfall this season, contributing to drought-like conditions and low catchment water-levels. Unfortunately, this dry trend is expected to continue over the central interior for the next week with only isolated thunderstorms possible. However, the eastern provinces are likely to see a significant improvement in rainfall over the coming week, as tropical moisture and favourable synoptic conditions are expected to bring more rainfall to the area.
Eastern South Africa is expected to experience increased rainfall over the next week, with numerical models predicting between 70 – 150 mm of accumulated rainfall in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern Free State, eastern parts of North West, and the western and southern areas of Limpopo. This substantial rainfall increase is likely to elevate the risk of flooding. As a result, the public is strongly urged to stay informed by following short-term weather forecasts and any warnings issued by the South African Weather Service. With the forecasted rainfall and accompanying cloud cover, temperatures in the eastern parts of the country are expected to cool down, providing some relief from the extreme heat and uncomfortable conditions experienced in recent weeks.
The weather outlook for Thursday, figure 2, shows a possibility of isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers over the central and eastern areas of the country, but widespread over KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The expected thunderstorms may result in heavy downpours that may lead to localised flooding, a possibility of damaging winds as well as hail in places over Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga as well as the southern parts of Limpopo.
For Friday, as indicated in figure 3, isolated showers and thundershowers are possible over the north-eastern areas of the country, but scattered over Gauteng, Mpumalanga as well as the eastern parts of North West with light rain expected along the south coast.
