Image: Eumetsat (Click on image for larger view.)
This cold front looked very impressive just before it made landfall on the 8 May 2014. The pre-frontal thunderstorms turned into severe weather late Thursday (8/5/2014) afternoon bringing with it hail and strong wind. Thankfully up to now there were no reports of any serious damage. The front moved eastwards and is now situated in the South Indian Ocean.
I will summarize a few events that were caused by this Cold Front/Upper Trough. I will not go into detail as this blog, MSBWX Facebook and @SAWXREP (Twitter) contains most if not all of the information.
1. Localize flooding of roads in parts of the Cape Metropole. (8 + 9 May 2014)
2. 7 May 2014 - A Kalula plane diverted to Port Elizabeth to escape the gale force Berg wind in George.
3. Gale force winds in the George area on 7/5/2014 caused damage to power lines, trees lost branches and buildings in George were damaged. No injuries were reported.
4. Intense thunderstorms with hail and strong wind reported: George, Wilderness, Haarlem, Oudtshoorn and Port Elizabeth. Thunderstorms were observed in the Western-, Southern- and Eastern Cape during this event.
5. The cold front brought heavy rain to the Cape Metropole while light rain were recorded in the Southern-, Northern and Eastern Cape.
6. Snowreport SA indicated that light snow has fallen on the high peaks in the SW Cape. This could however not be confirmed by SAWXREP with real time weather observations. 11/5/2014: Snowfall now confirmed on the Matroosberg mountains. This was confirmed by the Matroosberg Private Nature Reserve and a Terra Satellite Image.
7. The City of Cape Town Disaster Management was placed on high alert should any eventuality occur as a result of this weather system.
8. SAWXREP issued a Flood Expected Observation for Cape Town at 20h00 SAST on the 8/5/2014. Flood levels decreased on the 9 May 2014. No further flooding is currently expected.
9. Rainfall of between 10 - 49mm were recorded in parts of the Western Cape while areas of the Northern Cape and Southern Cape measured between 1 - 10mm of rain.
There might even be more severe weather incidents but to date this is all that I have on record for the Western-, Southern and Eastern Cape. This weather system looked more intense on "paper" than the previous fronts but thankfully it did not cause serious damage or loss of life.
Once again thank you for the support and real time weather observations. I am looking forward to your continued support.
- MSBWX + SAWXREP
