Posted on 08/03/2006 6:45:18 AM PDT by xrp
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Snow fell on South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg for the first time in 25 years as icy temperatures gripped vast swathes of the country, the weather office said.
"It (the snow) is by no means freakish but I would certainly classify it as rare," said Kevin Rae, assistant manager of forecasting at the South African Weather Service in Pretoria.
Forecasters said snow was reported in the southern Johannesburg township of Soweto and the posh northern suburb of Sandton, as well as the nearby towns of Carletonville and Westonaria.
Johannesburg last had snow on September 11, 1981.
"Sleet has been recorded occasionally since then, but never snow," added climatologist Tracey Gill.
Bloemfontein, the capital of the central Free State province, got its first snow in 12 years, receiving 13 centimetres (5.2 inches).
Comparable widespread snow across the country had been recorded only twice in the past 20 years, in 1981 and 1988, said Rae.
Some welcomed the colder weather, however.
At the Tiffindell ski resort in the southern Drakensberg mountains of the Eastern Cape province, guests were elated.
"They are very excited," said the resort's chief snow-maker, Johan Smuts. "It is not every day that you get to see snow fall in Africa."
In warmer weather, Smuts oversees the manufacture of snow for the resort through a process involving water and air compression.
Tiffindell usually gets about five snowfalls a year, he said, but rarely 25 centimetres in one day, as on Tuesday.
The weather service posted a warning on its website of very cold temperatures for the southeastern high elevations of the country into Thursday.
It expected snowfalls to continue over areas of the central Free State, the Drakensberg and the Eastern Cape, but to have passed by Friday.
In the northern provinces, the snow was expected to clear by Wednesday afternoon, said Rae.
Global warming!!!!!!!
it's that wiley global warming luring us into a sense of complacency
Bush's fault
Global warming is an unfortunate misnomer. More like "extreme weather."
Thanks for getting that in first, btw.
Some of the best skiing in the world is in South Africa and Argentina and Chile and Australia this time of year.
For those that don't know they have there winter when we have our summer and they eat Turkey on the beach for Christmas.
I believe our Olympic ski team goes to Chile practicing for the next Olympic's.
The more interseting thing to witness would be the locals' reaction to the rare event.
This is true, look at the mild winter you had in the US and then the record cold in Eastern Europe and West Russia last winter.
Then theres always the case of geological cycles which prove that 90% of the last two million years has been spent in ice ages cycles.
In the 1970s we were told another ice age is upon us! why just throw out a theory that was based on proof??
I see, warmer temperatures north of the equator this August and colder temperatures south of the equator this August.
Sounds to me like the "global" temperature is the same, just dispersed differently this season.
I can't believe the enviromental wackos retreated from the "Climate Change" theme - where they had traction - to "Global Warming". What fricking losers. They can't even win with losing causes.
Gee, I am old enough to remember all the hype about Global Cooling from the mid- to late 1970s. That "crisis" was designed to funnel federal research dollars to programs which were worthless--much as today's Global Warming hype is designed to funnel federal research dollars to programs which are worthless. Well, that should really be "worthless to the public" but valuable to the "researchers".
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