Capetonians revel in balmy heat as the rest of Mzansi braces for stormy Christmas Eve

With a blistering sun shining over Cape Town, families came out in their droves to enjoy Christmas Eve day around Sea Point swimming pools and other popular locations around the city.

While wet weather and storm warnings pervade through most of South Africa, the Cape Town area has been experiencing hot and sunny weather, which is expected to persist through Christmas Day.

According to the SA Weather Service (SAWS), residents of the Mother City can expect a hot and sunny day on Wednesday, with a high temperature of 33 degrees celsius forecast for the day. Clear skies are expected, with a wind speed of around 28km/h for most of the day.

However, Cape Town is expected to cool down later in the week, with highs of 28 degrees on Thursday and 23 degrees on Friday, with cloudy conditions setting in from Thursday afternoon.

Western Cape residents are however urged to remain alert to the possibility of veld fires.

By contrast, the eastern parts of South Africa can look forward to rainy and possibly disruptive weather on Christmas Eve, with the SAWS having issued a Yellow level 4 warning for disruptive rain over the western and south-western parts of Limpopo and the northern Highveld of Mpumalanga.

Yellow Level 2 warnings have been issued for the southern Mpumalanga Highveld, central Limpopo as well as the KwaZulu-Natal south coast and adjacent interior.

Furthermore, severe thunderstorms are predicted for Gauteng, the north-eastern Free State and eastern parts of the North West.

All of the abovementioned areas could be subject to localised flooding as well as damage to infrastructure and difficult driving conditions, the SAWS warned.

It predicts a 30% chance of rain in Johannesburg and Durban on Wednesday, with maximum temperatures of 26 degrees in both cities.

Although calmer weather could be on the cards for later in the week, the national weather service said on Thursday that South Africans could expect damaging and heavy rains across the country for the remaining days of 2024.

"These warnings should serve as a clarion call for holidaymakers to use weather warnings for their planning and safety," the SAWS said.

IOL