October snowfall awakens South African residents
Residents of the Eastern Cape including Free State and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa woke up on the last day of October to an unanticipated sight of snow on nearby mountains and in their gardens.
Snow could be seen in Barkley East, Elliot and parts of Matatiele, south of Drakensberg while Sneeuberg, Winterberg and Drakensberg mountains were covered in snow, local news outlet News24 reported.
Weather experts project that there will be no further falls in the coming days with only a chance of morning and evening fog. There should be an improvement in the daytime temperatures over the province on Wednesday, they added.
The snow should melt much quicker in the Eastern Cape because temperatures were higher this time of the year, said Meteorologist Lelo Kleinbooi who spoke to News24.
While increasing temperatures are expected to melt the snow and improve weather conditions, weather experts say it may take a longer time for the snow to melt in Drakensberg as more snow accumulates in the mountainous area.
Snow rarely falls in Africa but on mountains in South Africa, the Maghreb and Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. However, hailstones do fall sometimes in southern Africa when the temperature hits record lows.
South Africa is split into two main climatic zones. It is usually dry from April through to October, and the main winter period runs from May to August.
