Snow Falls in South Africa After More Than A Decade

A rare snowfall event on Monday, July 10, delighted residents of Johannesburg, which is considered as South Africa's biggest city.

Many South Africans, particularly children, were mesmerized by this weather event as the snow blanketed the Gauteng province as well as other high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

"Some of the pupils and I went out to explore... some of them had seen snow before whereas others thought it was raining," primary school teacher Agnes Mideva told BBC.

The Guardian reported that South Africans took to social media to describe the snow as "pure magic," "hectic" and a "wonderful start to the week." 

Johannesburg is located at an altitude of almost 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) and is in the midst of the southern hemisphere winter. However, snow in the city is still a rare occurrence.

Puseletso Mofokeng, a senior forecaster at the South African Weather Service (SAWS) told Aljazeera that they saw this type of weather more than a decade ago in 2012.

Snowfall unlikely to last longer

Jennifer Fitchett, a physical geography professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, told South Africa's Times newspaper that the snow was unlikely to last.

She said it was caused by an increase in humidity, freezing temperatures, and the cold wind.

Snow falls in Johannesburg every five years on average, with bigger snowfalls occurring every 10 to 20 years.

She added that Monday's weather is a perfect condition for snowfall because the humidity was about 97% and the temperature is reported to be cold.

"That [was] a very strong cold front that reached the Cape at the weekend and ... it started snowing earlier. It was very cold and wet. So that was a strong mid-latitude cyclone. The South African Weather Service [SAWS] issued a warning on July 6 regarding that strong cold front.," she said.

The SAWS confirmed that the snowfall was brought about by a "cold front [that] caused a significant drop in temperatures."

Despite this observation, an extremely cold weather is expected for the rest of the week.

According to a report on Associated Press, some parts of Johannesburg have temperatures falling to 1 degree Celsius (34 F).

"In parts of Mpumalanga we still have snow on the ground, but it will melt over the next few days. We are not expecting any more snowfall this week," forecaster Puseletso Mofokeng said.

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Take caution

No major disruptions caused by the snowfall have been recorded so far, but weather specialists told residents to take caution and keep warm.

They are keeping an eye on the snow development in the region, as it is not yet clear what role climate change played in this rare weather event.

Farmers were also advised to shelter their livestock during the cold.

The Department of Transport of South Africa also cautioned commuters, especially those in KwaZulu-Natal, about the possible heavy snowfall on the road.

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