Cape Town - Although the SA Weather Service advised that snow was going to fall over the high-lying areas of the province at the weekend, the hard and constant rains experienced on Saturday night have washed the snow away in most areas.
Matroosberg Nature Reserve was providing timely snowfall updates on Facebook and early on Sunday said the amount of snow right at the foot of the mountain was not worth spending a tank of fuel to come and see.
The Cape Town Weather Office said this was typically the case this time of year.
“Through a normal winter season a fair amount of snow covers the mountaintops this time of the year. Unfortunately up to date this winter season we received very little snowfall. When we do receive snowfall, it is very little and melts away quickly the next day,” the weather office said.
The office said another cold front was expected to make landfall by tomorrow evening into Wednesday morning, and then extend eastwards by Wednesday over the Western Cape and Northern Cape interior.
“Very similar weather conditions to this weekend can be expected with the next cold front. It will start to clear again from Thursday into the weekend with fine and sunny weather,” the forecasters said.
Stefaan Conradie of the UCT Climate System Analysis Group said what was more unusual about the weekend was how much moisture was pulling across the Atlantic from Brazil.
“This may explain heavier than normal rainfall behind the front when snow usually happens.
An enhanced satellite image from Friday (by EUMETSAT via Windy), shows a near-continuous cloud band from the Amazon to Cape Town.
“It seems the moisture is being directed here by a quite intense storm moving slowly across the Atlantic towards us, which some forecasts suggest will bring quite heavy rain.”
kristin.engel@inl.co.za