‘Expect more storms’

It was the season for severe thunderstorms with more storms predicted despite being in an El Nina state.

South African Weather Service (Saws) forecaster Ishmael Moyo said SA should brace itself for more intense and severe thunderstorms as it was that time of the season.

Moyo said the current heatwave active in Gauteng was expected to persist until Saturday, and added there was a possibility the heatwave could extend until Monday.

“It was that time of summer and for the eastern parts of the country, February was the month they got most of rain. February was known for giving to the eastern parts of the country,” he said.

“We can expect thunderstorms but will differ in terms of the intensity and the distribution, but we are expecting more storms.”

Moyo said because of the El Nino state, the conditions were warmer and dryer with less rainfall.

According to the Saws, historical rain data indicated Gauteng rainfall decreased from between 100 and 200mm of rainfall in December 2022 to between 50 and 200mm recorded in December last year.

The rainfall observed was also scattered in 2023 with January’s preliminary rainfall report indicating 84mm have been reported in Irene, Pretoria, compared to the 112mm average.

According to the Saws annual state of climate, Irene recorded 851mm over 66 days in 2022 while Johannesburg recorded 601mm over 64 days.

Meteorologist Prof Willem Landman said the El Nino will stay all summer.

“This phenomenon is usually accompanied by below-average season totals over the summer rainfall regions,” he said.

Landman said the latest forecast for the February-March-April season was an increased chance for the summer region to receive below-average rain totals.

TLU SA chair Bennie van Zyl said farms in Potchefstroom, Fochville, Delmas, and Standerton were critically dry at this point.

“Some of those farmers say if they don’t get rain this week, they won’t be able to harvests and others have already started counting their losses,” he said.