he recent spate of severe weather that has been experienced over South Africa since the beginning of the rainy season creates cause for concern. The question again is being asked, is this earth warming phenomena, pure bad luck or a sign of international weather changing patterns.
Since the beginning of the rainy season from roughly mid-October, some very severe storms have caused havoc across many parts of the country. Severe flooding along the Eastern Cape coast, causing millions of rand damage to Port Alfred and the Kenton-on-Sea region!
But it does not end there. We have had more than the average reports of funnel cloud formation, also known as thermals but growing in intensity and almost beginning to look like a ‘twister’. The latest from the Sutherland region!
Severe hail storms have also been a common report this season from right across the country and many photographs taken by people and sent to us indicate these are no normal hail stones – some are the size of tennis balls and cricket balls when placed next to each other.
Some hail stones are compacted small stones which normally disintegrate when hitting any object thus causing little damage, but the storm that hit Ladysmith in KZN this week, took on another meaning. One hail stone, the size of a tennis ball, was almost solid!
These stones have the velocity to disintegrate tiled roofs, pierce ceilings and even cause severe damage to furniture and cars parked in garages. One photograph showed a car parked in a garage actually having its windows smashed by these stones after passing through a tiled roof and a ceiling.
That is frightening! A stone that size can actually kill you if you happen to be in the wrong place at the right time!
Rain across the Karroo also highlights changing weather patterns. We had reports of copious rain in the Beaufort West area with streams fast flowing and even rock falls in a pass near the town. We are sure the Karroo farmers are very happy about the rain and that it may fill many dams, but the Karroo after all the years of drought, can again look forward to some good water supply!
From a Hamnet point of view, the Hamnet Facebook site as well as the SAWDOS site is constantly being fed information and photographs of severe weather around the country and with the holiday season now in full swing, we hope it will not dampen the enthusiasm of many holiday makers who are now unwinding and taking a break.
We will continue to monitor 7,110 MHz for traffic as many vehicles are still streaming to holiday resorts around our coastline as well as to countries bordering South Africa!
Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.
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