Late Season Snow and Cold Front Hit South Africa and Lesotho
2 sources across 2 countries · Qatar · South Africa · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- Al Jazeera
- Mail & Guardian
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
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Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.
Late season snow and bitter cold have blanketed parts of South Africa and Lesotho as winter nears its end. The weather system brought snowfall to the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal, leading to the closure of mountain passes and hazardous travel conditions. The South African Weather Service issued an Orange Level 6 warning for disruptive snowfall, specifically noting impacts on the N2 around Kokstad and the N3 Van Reenen Pass.
In Gauteng, Johannesburg experienced exceptionally cold conditions on Tuesday, with temperatures struggling to climb above freezing and a forecast maximum of 4 degrees Celsius. Senior forecaster Tokelo Chiloane explained that the severity of the event resulted from the combination of a standard cold front and an upper air cut off low, which doubled the impacts of the weather.
The system also brought rain and strong winds across the interior, with gusts reaching approximately 40km/h in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo. While the worst of the system has moved out of the country, officials warned that livestock owners and motorists remain at risk due to lingering snow and ice.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Outlets of this lean framed the event as a significant weather disruption, with one focusing on the global contrast to Northern Hemisphere heat and the other providing detailed meteorological explanations and local infrastructure impacts.
Sources
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