Scorching summer forecast for city
CAPETONIANS will experience cooler temperatures from this evening after the scorching hot weather experienced yesterday which will continue today.
The SA Weather Service (Saws) issued a warning for “extremely uncomfortable heat and high fire danger” expected over Cape Town and other areas, both yesterday and today.
This comes as the Saws seasonal weather outlook indicated above-normal minimum and maximum temperatures were expected for the summer season, while UV radiation-levels were expected to be high.
Senior forecaster Henning Grobler said this meant people should be prepared for warmer-than-usual weather conditions for the summer season this year.
The Cape Town weather office explained that in the city, the average minimum temperature for November would be 16°C, December 17.5°C and January 18.5°C, while the average maximum temperatures for November would be 24.4°C, December 25.3°C, and January 26.8°C.
“The summer is expected to be a warmer-than-average summer with normal rainfall conditions,” the weather office said.
Yesterday, the weather service released an extreme discomfort advisory, as a result of very hot conditions over the Western Cape. It warned of temperatures reaching close to 40°C and the impacts of these conditions.
“When the temperature is extremely high, humans’ ability to cool their bodies through sweating is reduced. This can be a real threat that leads to hyperthermia. In an extremely hot environment, the most serious health and safety concern is heat stroke, which can be fatal if medical attention is not available immediately,” it said.
Grobler said the warmer weather conditions occurring were normal for this time of the year and that the summer seasons were wellknown for periodic heat waves and extremely hot and uncomfortable weather conditions.
“Cooler and partly cloudy conditions are expected to set over Cape Town from tomorrow with temperatures cooling to around the mid-to-low twenties for the remainder of the week. No rain is expected,” Grobler said.
More extremely uncomfortable conditions were expected over the central and Little Karoo, including Swellendam, Hessequa and Knysna municipalities today, while extremely hot conditions were expected over Prince Albert, Oudtshoorn and Kannaland.
A consequence of the extreme conditions presented itself last Tuesday, when a wildfire in the Spuithoek, Still Bay and Hessequa area flared up after being controlled for three days.
The Garden Route District Municipality’s fire services, Hessequa and the environment department’s fire crews battled through harsh winds and high temperatures to control the fire for days.
The municipality’s head of communications, Herman Pieters, said the fire was under control by Thursday night, however firefighters remained on the scene in case of flare-ups until Sunday.