Photo: FW Archive
Independent agricultural meteorologist Johan van den Berg told Farmer’s Weekly that the true impact of these cold fronts would, however, only become evident from Friday, 12 August.
Jannie Strydom, CEO of Agri Western Cape, said the cold and wet weather was especially good news for grain producers.
READ The influence of weather on lucerne hay quality
“Feedback from producers across our province is that cold and wet weather is very necessary at the moment. Agri Western Cape really hopes that August will bring good rainfall.”
Van den Berg said the country’s winter rainfall regions could expect between 20mm and 40mm of rain over the coming week due to these cold fronts.
“This is good news, because the Western Cape is especially dry,” he said.
“In July, the province only received 40% of its normal rainfall, and the winter grains, such as wheat, are struggling. If those farmers can receive 30mm of rain in the coming week it will be very welcome.”
Corné Louw, senior economist of Grain SA, said: “Our [Western and Eastern] Cape regions desperately need rain and for the cold weather to remain for longer. In various regions farmers will already not be able to realise a full harvest.”
Apart from the predicted moderate rainfall, there was also a chance of snowfall and frost across the Western Cape.
The SAWS predicted possible snowfall over the southern high-ground of the Northern Cape, Nieuveld Mountains near Beaufort West, the northern high-grounds of the Eastern Cape, western high-grounds of KwaZulu-Natal, and southern parts of Lesotho on Sunday, 14 August.
The SAWS further predicted that the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, North West and Free State should expect very low temperatures on Saturday, 13 August.
“Bitterly cold weather conditions with maximum temperatures below 10°C are expected over the southern parts of the Northern Cape, northern parts of the Western Cape, central and northern parts of the Eastern Cape, southern parts of the Free State, and the central and southwestern parts of KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday.
Frost was expected over the southern parts of Namibia and parts of central South Africa on Sunday morning.
Widespread frost was also expected over the interior of South Africa on Monday morning, 15 August.
The SAWS urged small-stock farmers to keep vulnerable animals in shelters to protect them from the very cold, wet, and windy weather.
