Cape of (April) Storms

Last week saw a trough approach the Western Cape from the west with some very cold polar air aloft. It was from an early stage that this system would have the possibility for thunderstorm development, CAPE values were forecast to remain low but there were some positive (well... negative) LI numbers coming out of the model outputs. A thread in the forums was already discussing the system days prior and it wasn't long until the SAWS had jumped on board in their forecasts for thundershowers for areas of the Western Cape. Temperatures forecast for both Wednesday and Thursday were too...

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First Snow of 2012

A strong cold front pushed through the Western Cape this Easter weekend, moderate winds, some heavy falls of rain and rough seas were present in places on Saturday and Sunday. This storm system also brought us the first snow of the year with webcam images from Sutherland on Sunday showing light snow accumulation on the ground. Thick fog covered much of the Cape Town area early on Friday prior to the approach of the front, which gave way to some higher clouds later in the day followed by an increase in winds and eventually rainfall late on Friday night into...

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Autumn is Here

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Tropical Storm Irina Forecast to Reach Cyclone Status Again

Tropical storm Irina is currently located off the east coast of South Africa and as can be expected, the storm remains fairly weak, this is mainly due to the fact that the water temperatures as far south as tropical storm Irina is, are less conductive for strengthening than further north. I think it's important for people to realize though, that judging by the latest official forecasts, that this storm is not by any means over for South Africa and the main impact looks like it will take place later this week, with the brunt of the storm likely being felt...

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Irina Expected to Become Cyclone Off Mozambique

NOTE: This article is edited with updates pertaining to the latest information on Irina, scroll down to the bottom of the article for the latest. The excitement continues in the South West Indian Ocean this year with another tropical storm located just off the Mozambique coast which has already brought heavy rains to the area with the bulk of the convection located on the West-Northwest side of the storm. This storm is forecast by the JTWC to move south in the Mozambique Channel while strengthening to cyclone strength by the end of tomorrow (Thursday).The JTWC intensity guidance suggests that the storm...

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Storm Chasing Blogs

Compile blog posts detailing your recent storm chases or other severe weather related events.

Sutherland snow chase 06Aug2011

Posted by: Hannes in MyBlog on Aug 08, 2011

Tagged in: Untagged

Departed Saturday morning 07h00 from Durbanville after picking up Arnold, the navigator for the weekend. We set out to go and see some snow at the Swartberg on the tail of the cold front discussed on the forum.
http://www.stormchasing.co.za/index.php/forum/26-long-term-forecasts-and-models/5170-cold-front-sw-cape-4-5-aug-2011

We stopped at the Spar in Worcester to purchase some supplies, and standing at the pay piont we saw the pic on the front page of the Cape Argus of some thick snow on the Verlate kloof pass. I set my mind on this new location and headed off to Matjiesfontein. We reached the first snow on the ground about 70km from Matjiesfontein on the Sutherland road at 1200m on the Verlatenkloof pass.
Verlatekloof location on Google maps. http://maps.google.co.za/?ll=-32.557086,20.590439&spn=0.070751,0.109692&t=h&z=13

Verlatekloof pass R354

There were very few cars on the tar but turned off on the dirt road towards Merveville.
Dirt road Sutherland to Merveville

In some places the water in the road looks wet, but is frozen with quite a thick crust of ice. As we drive over the ice puddles, the ice splinters up and comes flying over the bonnet like pieces of broken glass to hit the front windscreen.
Frozen road Sutherland

We turned into the airstrip located here http://maps.google.co.za/?ll=-32.49076,20.700517&spn=0.017701,0.027423&t=h&z=15
and got a pic on some virgin ice.
Sutherland air strip

Drove about 15km along this road to where it starts to decend over the escarpment towards Merveville and the ice thinned and turned back to the tar R354.
Sutherland dirt road

A short way back on tar towards Verlatekloof pass, we turned off on the Komsberg road towards Laingsburg. http://maps.google.co.za/?ll=-32.570975,20.691547&spn=0.07074,0.109692&t=h&z=13
Both the dirt roads has general elevation of just over 1500m. The area here is very flat with lots of small pans filled with water.
Sutherland pan

Allthough it was clear that there was some traffic on the road before us, we did not get any cars until we were way out of the snow. Here is another long stretch of snowy road.
Sutherland dirt road

For long stretches the road was very slushy and swopped places with Arnold to have fun with the steering wheel.
Sutherland slushy road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zucj9Z4sU3g

Arnold, navigator and co-driver.
Arnold

From Laingsburg we headed off to a base camp at the foot of the Klein Swartberg, set a fire and spent the night in a warmer climate away from the snow.
Kleinswartberg camp

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