The hail descended on parts of Aliwal North and Lady Gray on Sunday. (Photo: Amanda Rheeder/Facebook)
Parts of the Free State and the Eastern Cape were decked out in white this past weekend – so much so that it looked as if snow had fallen in the streets of Aliwal North and Lady Grey.
Eyewitnesses who had to plow through the white blankets on Sunday say it was a giant hailstorm that covered the streets so white. Social media users speculated that it might be snow, but pictures of giant hailstones dispelled any thought of that.
Amanda Rheeder shared photos of the weather phenomenon on Facebook and said they also had to pull off the road due to the traffic congestion caused by the hail.
Dituo Tawana, a weather forecaster attached to the weather service, says they received calls about the weather phenomenon on Sunday.
“Due to the updraft that started in the Northern Cape and moved over the Free State and Eastern Cape, there was especially a lot of rain, thunderstorms and even snow in some of the areas,” she says.
She says that further rain, thunderstorms and snow are expected over the east of the country this week.
(Photo: Amanda Rheeder/Facebook)
“At this stage, snow may be expected over the high-lying parts of the Eastern Cape and Lesotho. However, there will not be a significant amount of it.”
The weather service expects the temperatures in the eastern parts of the Eastern Cape to drop sharply by Friday as winds move inland from the coast.
Along with this, the rain that fell over parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng this past weekend is also moving to the east of the country.
“The rain is clearing up over the central and eastern parts of Limpopo, but is now moving to the eastern parts of the country,” says Tawana.
“There will certainly be isolated showers and thunderstorms over the east of the country today, which are expected to last until Wednesday. After that, the area will be only partly cloudy.”
Morning satellite image for today 11 April 2023. Showing showers and thundershowers over the extreme eastern parts of the country. pic.twitter.com/t4v1r6gM5M
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) April 11, 2023
