Snow In Pretoria!!!

Many residents of Gauteng woke up on Wednesday morning to a layer of snow turning lawns, rooftops and cars white, while the South African Weather Service predicted a freezing day with temperatures staying below eight degrees Celsius in Johannesburg.

Some Johannesburg residents phoned radio stations and told of waking up their children at 1am to play in the snow outside. Snow was reported on the East Rand, in Roodepoort and in Pretoria, while rooftops in Rosebank sparkled with a white layer early on Wednesday morning.

The cold snap also caused more power failures, with Bedfordview residents experiencing their third power failure in a matter of days.

Pretoria was the northern-most point of the snowfall, South African Weather Service forecaster Siyabonga Mthetwa told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday morning. Snow like this last occurred in Gauteng on September 10 1981, he said.

No more snowfall is expected to fall in Gauteng, he added, as the weather system is on its way out to sea.

Early-morning temperatures in the province are likely to fall sharply on Thursday, the weather service said. Daytime temperatures, however, are expected to recover gradually from Thursday onwards.

In the Free State, Bloemfontein had already seen sleet falling by lunchtime on Tuesday with temperatures hovering at about three degrees Celsius. Various places in central and southern Free State reported snow and sleet, and in Lady Grey in the Eastern Cape snow had started to fall at about 11.30am on Tuesday. It was still snowing by late afternoon. "It's a fairyland, our own Alps," said resident Johan Hattingh.

Snowfalls were also reported from Rhodes, Sterkspruit, Aliwal North, Tarkastad and Barkly East.

Courtesy: Mail & Gaurdian Online