Kimberley’s big freeze is not over yet

AS THE temperature in Kimberley dropped to a reported -5.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night, city residents have been warned that the cold weather is not over yet.

According to a report, several Northern Cape towns experienced well below freezing temperatures on Tuesday night, with Sutherland being the lowest at -7 degrees C.

Prieska recorded -3.8 degrees C and De Aar -2.4 degrees.

The cold weather is expected to continue for the next few days, and although sub-zero temperatures are likely, the daily highs are not expected to go much above 17 degrees C until after the weekend.

Several records have already been broken in the Province during the recent cold spell, with Vaalharts recording a new low of -7.7 degrees C in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Sutherland also recorded the country’s lowest maximum temperature this week when the thermometer did not rise above 2.5 degrees C on Monday.

The coldest spot in the country on Tuesday was Buffelsfontein with a low of -12.3 degrees C.

Elsa de Jager, manager of the National Climate Centre at the South African Weather Service, explained yesterday that the recent cold weather was due to a series of cold fronts that followed each other in quick succession.

“The aftermath – the cold air that stays behind – warms up slowly until temperatures return to what they were before the passage of a cold front,” De Jager said.

– Patsy Beangstrom