Another heatwave expected in parts of SA this week

Another heatwave can be expected in parts of South Africa this week and according to early weather predictions, it is expected in Gauteng from Wednesday.

The South African Weather Service (Saws) has issued an advisory of a heatwave with persistently high temperatures in Mpumalanga and the Limpopo lowveld. It also warned of extremely high fire danger conditions expected over the Limpopo valley and western bushveld of Limpopo, the extreme east and western half of the North West,the western half of the Free State and the Northern Cape, except the extreme southeast and extreme northwest.

According to Saws, dry and cloud-free weather over the past few days has allowed maximum levels of sunshine to arrive over the interior of the country, with temperatures becoming incrementally higher every day. 

“In addition, a very large upper-air high pressure system, (or anticyclone) has dominated the weather pattern over the southern African subcontinent in the past week, extending over much of Namibia, Botswana and the northern half of South Africa.

“Apart from this feature blocking the arrival of tropically sourced moisture (and thus delaying the onset of our summer rains), upper-air highs are well-known to be associated with large-scale air stability and sinking air masses. Such systems inhibit thunderstorm development, but perhaps more importantly in this case, the sinking air heats up quite dramatically,” it said.

Some weather apps predict that scattered thunderstorms and rain can be expected on Sunday and Monday. 

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