Severe thunderstorm warning issued for KwaZulu-Natal

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Picture: Frank Cone/Pexels

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Picture: Frank Cone/Pexels

Published Oct 9, 2024

Share

The South African Weather Service (Saws) has issued a Yellow Level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms for KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.

"Scattered showers and thundershowers are expected over the western parts of KZN, otherwise isolated. Potentially severe thunderstorms are expected over the north western parts with damaging winds, excessive lightning and hail," Saws said.

The forecaster said the weather will have an impact on localised damage to infrastructure, settlements, vehicles and livestock.

Saws added that it could also impact localised injuries and danger to life due to lightning and possibly cause power surges.

Additionally, Saws has predicted rain for the country's inland areas on Wednesday and Thursday.

The province has seen severe weather patterns in the last few weeks.

Late last month, thousands of motorists were stranded following snowfall along the N3.

Saws recently announced a king-size testbed that kicked off on October 1. It is expected to ramp up the work done by the Weather and Climate Services for Africa (WISER) Early Warnings for Southern Africa (EWSA) project in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia, to improve the forecasting ability of meteorologists and disseminate relevant and potentially life-saving weather information to communities.

Testbeds are a way of testing various methodologies in real-life scenarios with measurable impact.

Saws said early warnings about severe weather events, for example, heavy rain and thunderstorms, can help communities prepare in a way that saves lives.

IOL News