Cape Town - Wednesday’s showers across the Cape were welcomed after the predicted dry winter this year took effect with significantly lower dam storage levels, below-normal rainfall and numerous calls for the public to conserve water before the province’s traditional rainy season ended.
The Cape Town Weather Office said below-normal rainfall was expected to continue for the next two months and that a series of cold fronts was expected to make landfall over Cape Town this evening, and would persist into early Sunday morning.
“These cold fronts are expected to bring about 50-70mm of rainfall accumulations in the next few days. Cold fronts can still be expected (in the coming months). However their likelihood decreases towards the end of winter,” the weather office said.
Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) spokesperson Charlotte Powell said no reports of flooding and calls for assistance were received on Wednesday and they remained ready to deal with requests for assistance.
Local Government MEC Anton Bredell said that according to a provincial disaster management report to the Western Cape Cabinet, below normal rainfall and unseasonably warm temperatures were experienced during the first half of the Western Cape’s traditional rainfall season, which may lead to water scarcity in the province should the conditions persist throughout the winter rainfall season.
South African Weather Services (Saws) senior forecaster Henning Grobler added that it was possible but highly unlikely that the Western Cape would receive the bulk of its rainfall within the second half of winter because its rainfall sharply decreased from September onwards.
“To date (2022) the Western Cape has received below-normal rainfall but not as low as for the 2017 and 2018 seasons (during the time of the Day Zero scare),” Grobler said.
Grobler said that the Saws seasonal outlook continued to forecast below-normal rainfall towards the end of the rainfall season from August to October and to date, the seasonal outlook was spot-on with its rainfall prediction.
Water and Sanitation Mayco member Zahid Badroodien said there was no cause for alarm and the City was actively monitoring the situation. Residents were encouraged to remain conscious about water usage leading up to summer.