The week was dominated by reports of civil unrest in Syria and the odd earth quake around the Pacific Ring of Fire.
However, on Friday, we had a report of the possibility of a cut-off low developing over the Eastern Cape. Viewing the weather report on TV on Thursday already, we could see that the late summer rainfall pattern seems to be developing.
This means that the prediction of late and heavy rains during the latter part of our rainy season may have started!
Hamnet sent out a 20 odd SMS warning to selected members in the Eastern Cape and in KZN and we asked them to check conditions and also to access the SAWDIS1 website for more information.
Reports started coming in of heavy rain the Bathurst region of the Eastern Cape as well as East London but by Saturday morning, this bank of cloud had moved into the Indian Ocean.
The situation is not over yet as the South African Weather Service, SAWS indicated that heavy rain will occur on Saturday, today Sunday as well as Monday with a very uncomfortable index along the KZN coastline.
This again shows that through information received, reading the weather correctly and taking the necessary action, Hamnet can produce a good early warning system to all our members – especially in affected regions.
We suggest that the SAWDIS1 website as well as that of Kobus Botha be checked regularly as they update their systems very often – in some cases up to 4 times an hour with result that information is very up to date and accurate.
Through experience and also learning from other parts of the world like the USA who are very prone to natural disasters, we are slowly moving into a situation where we can fairly accurately predict weather situations and at the same time give adequate warning to all Hamnet members in affected areas.
We will see how this current pattern plays itself out over the next 72 hours or so.
Websites to follow:-
www.sawdis1.blogspot.com
www.weatherphotos.co.za
Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.
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