Image: forecast graphic from the South African Weather Service for August 29th.
Winter is not going gently into spring in South Africa, where a late-season winter cold front delivered well below average temperatures to the nation’s capital, Cape Town, and the first snow in four years to Table Mountain.
“Table Mountain reported its first dusting of snow in four years on the morning of Wednesday, August 28,” writes IOL. “Snow is an unusual occurrence on Table Mountain and it was last spotted on August 29, 2020.”
The Table Mountain Cableway celebrated the rare snow, writing in an Instagram post, “It’s official! It’s snowing on Table Mountain! The mountain is covered in a beautiful layer of snow, turning our stunning landscape into a winter wonderland!”
The South African Weather Service said the cold front that delivered snow to Table Mountain also had a wider impact across parts of the country due to gale force winds, complicating travel.
The Sunday Times reports that in Cape Town the cold front delivered chilly temperatures, with a daytime high of 12°C on August 28. While that might not seem very cold to some people, it is 5 degrees Celsius below the average high temperature for that date and just one degree above the average low for the date.