Snow in South Africa.....AGAIN!

Hi All,

Well, it's happened again! In the space of a few months South Africa has experienced snow. I made a thread here 3 weeks ago about snow in SA, where I posted info and linked to 2 other ATS users threads.

This morning I got a call from SA to tell me "you won't believe it's snowing here again"!

So here are 2 photos that have just been e-mailed to me. They are from the South of Johannesburg

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/65db124a1d88.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e38daf5174d2.jpg[/atsimg]

This is a photo from Mpumalanga:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b72e57c2bb7a.jpg[/atsimg]

(Credit to Nas Parak)

link to more photos taken today.

And once again, the N3 Highway has been closed

So in 6 weeks they've had snow 3 times in SA. This is really bizarre!

ETA - Just found another linky

No doubt, the weather is weird down here. It's been hailing, too. On & off for the last 2 hours, nothing severe but uncommon for our Winter months. It is weird all over the world.

*The last photo is from the snowstorm we had a few weeks ago? People were trapped in certain areas, or delayed coming from the coastal areas up to Johannesburg. Like a mini white-out, for us South Africans

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Sorry to be ignorant but does it hardly ever snow up there or never ever snow up there? Is it like herw in Adelaide where it never snows at all? If that is the case... that is so strange. What are the local scientists saying as to what is causing this?

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


And in New Zealand:-

www.dailymail.co.uk...

reply to post by qonone


It certainly is very strange weather. My Mom told me that they had hail, and then my Dad called her and said it was snowing! This says it all:

"Incredible weather in Joburg, snow, rain, sleet, hail... keep the pictures coming where you are," Radio 702's Aki Anastasiou tweeted.

The photos I linked are dated 15 August

reply to post by alldaylong


I was watching that this morning on the news when my Mom called me, and I thought "what the hell is going on here?!" I'm watching snow in NZ, and they having snow in SA AGAIN!

Really, what are the odds of that??

reply to post by Australiana


From the 70's to 2010, i have seen snow twice & now in the last few weeks i have seen it twice. What happened in 40 years happened in 2011 alone.

reply to post by Australiana


You do get some snow on the mountain peaks in winter - The Drakensberg for one. Sometimes you'll get some snow in places like Harrismith, but it's pretty rare. However, 3 times in 6 weeks - Unheard of.

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Oh no, i was asking if it was from the previous storm. That photo looks like it is from earlier today. The snowstorm we had few weeks ago was quite hectic, i got stuck in it. Not that i cared getting back to work

TortoiseKweek, true. Clearly he is a Safrican living in Canada As he said, we get snow in the Drakensberg, on a yearly basis, but not in Johannesburg.

Originally posted by qonone
reply to post by Australiana

 

From the 70's to 2010, i have seen snow twice & now in the last few weeks i have seen it twice. What happened in 40 years happened in 2011 alone.

Exactly. I only saw snow in Johannesburg once before, and that was in September 1981. They had a dusting in 2007. But this is a little crazy to say the least

I hope it snows throughout the Rugby World Cup. England will beat you all in the snow.

When did the snow hit Auckland btw? I was watching the NZ Warriors in the NRL on Saturday and Mt Smart stadium looked pretty normal

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


What is strange is that it wasn't cold earlier this morning. The wind came up yesterday, especially last night. Everything just went dark within a few minutes (you know when we get our Summer thunderstorm clouds) - poof! Lights went out and it started to rain, then hail and then a bit later i realized there is flakes falling, extremely light though. Now the wind is blowing, it is cold. Better be snow when i get home!

reply to post by qonone


I know exactly what you are talking about - line thunderstorms on the highveld. In a matter of 10-15 minutes those clouds come in, then you have a thunderstorm and it's over with. The rain that's occurred there this winter alone is bizarre, let alone the snow. Oh yes, and the hail.....in winter.... What the hell man!

I'm currently on vacation in Eastern Europe, and it is uncharacteristically cold down here. Summer was over sometime in June. We've been getting consistently cold weather, whereas five years ago when I came here during the summer, the heat and humidity was quite strong. That was normal. This year it's definitely not normal. Too much rain, overcast nearly every day. I think in the last three weeks we've had maybe one day of clear blue skies. It's quite disappointing. I've learned to appreciate the half sunny half cloudy weather, even when sporadic showers are threatening to ruin an hour or two.

While it's normal to have storms and rain maybe once or twice a week, it's been raining here since July almost non-stop, and nights have been very cold. We're talking high 50's to low 60's. I remember being able to sit out at night in a t-shirt and shorts without any issues, but now it's jackets and sweaters. Summer was cut short by a month. Even some of the trees have started changing color.

someone tripped over the HAARP powercord and accidentally aimed it at SA. Sorry.

Seriously though... thats amazing really. Here in he midwest of the US Im pretty concerned about how our winter will be. They say severe weather this winter, adn I cant imagine it. I havent been here this long and a year without prediction of severe winter season knocked my power out 7 days and it was chaos. The ice came when the trees were still somewhat green and when the moisture froze in the trees they would make a sound as loud as a gunshot and split. Im from the deep south where this stuff just doesnt happen, I thought Id died and landed in a winter apocalypse!

The worlds weather has gone mad.. the people have gone mad.. gee, I guess its time to visit the 2012 forum for the first time!

Looks like someone went off-roading....

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/55c25bb87e52.jpg[/atsimg]

Snow in Johannesburg? You had better believe it. The sudden dip in temperatures have wreaked havoc on the roads, especially in the South of Johannesburg over the lunch period.

www.mypressoffice.co.za...

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Very strange. To us who have grown up here know that this ain't our usual weather. Everyone is speaking about it, i mean everyone. That the older people, like my dad who's 80 now and admitting it is strange times, is telling me something is up. I have friends down at the north coast who said that in 15 years this was the first Winter it was too cold to go and surf a few weeks ago. They usually hit the waves 5.30-6am, but no go.

As cold as it was this Winter, it changed so quickly over the last couple of weeks to lovely weather. Though it is still Winter we were up to 26 degrees in the last week. Today it all changed, again. I am breathing vapour where i am sitting.

But, the strangest of all, as you said, is thunderstorms we are having in Winter. I can understand snow but thunderstorms? We had severe hail and thunderstorms as Winter started, and now again. Thunderstorms is a South African Summer "weather tradition" ...not in Winter. Though, the smell is so amazing outside.

Originally posted by qonone
reply to post by TortoiseKweek

 

Very strange. To us who have grown up here know that this ain't our usual weather. Everyone is speaking about it, i mean everyone. That the older people, like my dad who's 80 now and admitting it is strange times, is telling me something is up.

Absolutely, it definitely isn't normal weather. When I spoke to the family last weekend they said it was in the 20's there and warmed nicely, and then wham.

My Dad's in his 70's and he has never seen this type of weather in SA. So when they (our parents) tell you this is nuts, you better believe it.

Originally posted by NadaCambia
I hope it snows throughout the Rugby World Cup. England will beat you all in the snow.

The way we (South Africa) are playing this year England will beat us if there's a heatwave

Originally posted by TortoiseKweek
My Dad's in his 70's and he has never seen this type of weather in SA. So when they (our parents) tell you this is nuts, you better believe it.

Just got told it is snowing in the Eastern parts of Johannesburg right now. I am in the Midrand area, about 40km away, and the sun is popping it's head.