Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid 30s next week as a heatwave persists across most parts of the country, according to the South African Weather Service.
Temperatures in major cities such as Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Polokwane hovered between 30°C and 35°C this week, the weather service said.
Over the past two days, the heatwave has been felt mostly in the northern parts of Free State and the North West, as well as Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and in the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal, South African Weather Service forecaster Edward Engelbrecht said.
Temperatures are expected to drop slightly by Friday but pick up again over the weekend and reach the mid 30s again into next week, he told the Mail & Guardian.
“We can expect temperatures reaching high degrees, especially in the Lowveld and western Bushveld of Limpopo. As for Gauteng, we can also expect temperatures to come back to the mid 30s, even the high 30s, in mostly the northern parts of Gauteng,” Engelbrecht added.
Although it’s not unusual to have heatwaves at this time of the year, he said, they would not normally last this long.
“It’s quite weird to see a heatwave lasting this long, because we’ve already experienced it from the beginning of this week, for the whole week, and then again from the weekend.
“It is a bit unusual that a heatwave continues for such an extended period of time and then we also see that it is looking at temperatures above 40 — it is above normal temperatures for this time of the year,” he said.
The surge in temperatures had been caused by a phenomenon called “heat low” over parts of Namibia, as well as not enough cool air coming in from the ocean.
“We don’t have any cold fronts or cold air over the country, so we see the same conditions persisting every day and that’s increasing the temperature day by day,” Engelbrecht said.
He said the weather service expected scattered showers and thunder showers in some regions, including parts of the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, on Thursday, that could reduce temperatures in the afternoon, “but it shouldn’t result in any significant cooling”.
