Severe thunderstorms and heatwave warnings issued across South Africa

A Yellow Level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms has been issued for the south-eastern parts of Mpumalanga and the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal. According to the South African Weather Service (SAWS) this weather pattern will also see heavy downpours and gusty winds.

Meanwhile, a Yellow Level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms has been issued for the southern parts of Gauteng, the southern parts of the escarpment areas of Mpumalanga, the southern parts of KZN, the central parts of the Northern Cape, over the Free State, and over areas in the North West.

The weather forecaster has also issued a warning for high fire danger conditions over the Kai!Garib Municipality of the Northern Cape.

"It is going to be very hot in the Namakwa District of the Northern Cape on Monday, persisting into Tuesday, when it will include the West Coast district, the Cape Winelands, Cape Metropole, and Overberg local municipalities of the Western Cape," SAWS warned.

SAWS recently confirmed that several weather stations across the Namakwa District and the Western Cape have officially broken their long-standing maximum temperature records for March.

"The presence of a strong, slow-moving high-pressure weather system in the upper levels of the atmosphere has resulted in "extremely hot" conditions," the forecaster stated.

It said preliminary data showed that several stations in the Western Cape have recorded their highest maximum temperatures in at least 11 years during the current heat wave event.

"These temperatures exceed those recorded during a similar extreme heat event on March 3, 2015, when parts of the province, particularly the Cape Metropole, broke longstanding temperature records," SAWS said.

IOL