Thunderstorms, strong winds and cold temperatures expected in Gauteng over the weekend

Gauteng residents should brace themselves for extremely cold temperatures this weekend. The South African Weather Service has also warned that thunderstorms with strong and gusty winds can be expected on Saturday and Sunday.

Forecaster Wayne Venter says that there could also be localised flooding in some parts of the province.

“We’re looking at maximum temperatures in the low to mid-teens for today and mostly cloudy conditions, especially for the course of this morning and early afternoon. There is the possibility of isolated storms developing for the late afternoon, especially for the East Rand and southern parts of Gauteng. So we do have the possibility of more isolated storms. Then for tomorrow we still expect this cold weather to continue and we do expect a good chance of showers mainly from the late morning but especially from later evening in Gauteng again,” says Venter.

SA Weather | Saturday 21 May 2022 | #SABCWeather 

Meanwhile, Johannesburg Emergency Services say that they’re on high alert to respond to fire-related incidents.

An extreme cold front is expected to hit the city this weekend and residents have been urged to use all heating devices safely.

Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi says that disaster management teams have already been deployed to high-risk areas.

“From our side as the City of Johannesburg, we will remain on high alert monitoring all seven regions of the city especially our informal settlements. As we know that these are our vulnerable parts especially due to the heating devices that they use. We have also activated our disaster management monitoring teams, they will be monitoring all seven regions of the city to make sure that we can attend to any emergencies that can occur in all seven regions of the city,” says Mulaudzi.

🌧️The cut-off low pressure visible on satellite this morning (21 May 2022). Widespread showers and thundershowers over eastern SA today with significant impacts possible along the KZN coast and adjacent interior. Please do take care. pic.twitter.com/FmPUH3Kgrc

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) May 21, 2022