Thursday 9 August 2012

Snowy South Africa.

For the first time in recorded history every region of South Africa has had snow at the same time. From the southern most tip of Africa to almost the Tropic of Capricorn, (must be global warming).

On Tuesday afternoon I got on a Greyhound bus just outside of Estcourt to travel to Pretoria to collect my "new" car, (ie. slightly used, like for 14 years). Hardly on the bus when it was announced that we would have to make a 200km + detour as the main pass over the Drakensberg had been closed due to the snow. A six hour trip became a nine hour trip. 

More than 300km of N3 highway from Howick outside of Pietermaritzburg, north to Villiers in the Free State Province was closed for more than 24 hours. Hundreds of cars, trucks and buses were stuck in the snow unable to go anywhere. In South Africa we are not equipped to handle heavy snow falls, no snow ploughs, etc. 


When I left home at 3pm I took this photo above. This is the first time since 1996 that it has snowed in Estcourt.

Below some photos taken off the Internet of scence of snow in KZN.




The weather has improved over most of the country, but in the south and south east it is still very cold. Cheers from Sunny I mean Snowy South Africa.

5 comments:

Joel said...

Intellectually, I "know" it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere...but I still find myself surprised to see snow anywhere in Africa. To me: Africa = Heat!

And snow can cause chaos anywhere!

Jo said...

I hear it's snowing white in SA this week!I don't like the cold or snow, so I'd faint if it snowed here in EA! Er, Phil, now you're really being spoiled: imagine a car which is only 14 years old! What happened your trusty old (was she 30+?) girl - Mme Ford Escort? Show us the new acquisition, please... Love Jo

Joyful said...

I love the photos. I'd heard of the snow on the news. Keep warm.

Kay L. Davies said...

Amazing weather, but, like my friend Penny (Joyful) I love your photos.
K

Mark Kautz said...

Now we know where all the moisture went. The top half of the world is dry as a bone and the southern half is getting all the water.

Mark