Durban - People in the Van Reenen community, where the N3 enters KwaZulu-Natal, expected “a white Christmas in August” after snow started to fall gently yesterday.
“It reminds me so much of my childhood,” Charmaine Maharaj, who operates a food outlet on the pass and whose family has lived there for three generations, told the Independent on Saturday.
SA Weather forecaster Thandiwe Gumede said there would be thicker snow deeper into the Free State but could only predict thunderstorms this side of the provincial border.
She said from her base at the King Shaka International Airport that from midday today (SAT) dangerous waves and gale-force winds were expected along the coast.
“The winds should be around 65 to 75km/h and the waves five to six metres high.”
National Sea Rescue Institute spokesperson Craig Lambinon urged caution.
“If you don’t have to launch when there is bad weather, then obviously don’t,” he said.
Lambinon also urged paddlers, boaters and sailors to use the RSA SafeTRX App, which monitors a boat’s journey and alerts emergency contacts, who are nominated by the user, should they fail to return to shore on time.
“This free cellphone application enables the user to plot their intended course, store essential emergency numbers that can be used by NSRI if you fail to return from your trip, gives NSRI your location at all times during your trip, gives the user the ability to call an emergency by the push of a button and gives the NSRI your exact position throughout our rescue response if you press the emergency button,” according to the organisation’s website.
“It takes the search out of ‘search and rescue’,” quipped Lambinon.
In the run-up to the weekend, warm Berg winds were sweeping through the Southern Drakensberg, which locals said was an indicator of cold weather to come.
A fire destroyed a tourism facility in Bulwer. A resident said staff and pupils at a local village school would be looking forward to warmer rather than colder weather, having been without power for six months.
In Hilton, resident Charles Webster said the weather had been “having an identity crisis” over the past week, fluctuating from freezing to warm. He also mentioned the warm winds.
The Midlands Meander Association said that in the event of it snowing, staff would be on weekend standby to guide visitors to the warm fires and glühwein offered at tourism facilities.
The Independent on Saturday