Category: this is south africa

Here we go again… again.

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It’s rough out there at the moment, and it’s about to get rougher…

Tomorrow is so nasty, they are closing all the schools and they’ve only been open since yesterday.

And this on top of 243mm (and still counting) that we’ve had over the last week. There’s quite literally nowhere for all the water to go, and I’m saying that even though we’re right next to a big ocean. In fact, that’s actually where the bloody rain is coming from in the first place.

I’m not attributing this series of cold fronts to climate change (I’ve covered this here and here “recently”), but there’s no doubt that we are likely to experience more extreme weather events over the coming year. I read an interesting paper on the effect that this might have on our tourism industry:

And so we brace for tomorrow and the following week, in which we’re looking at another 150mm.

Need an ark built?
I Noah bloke.

More weather

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Aside from a surprise heatwave (not forecast yet, but you never rule it out), we have had all the weather in the last few days.

Today, it’s more rain. With the total for the last week sitting comfortably over the 100mm mark, there’s been almost another 50mm this morning alone, it’s still falling hard and it. is. miserable.

This glum, grey, wet weather is forecast the continue until Sunday, with Google helpfully(?) telling me that the next time I would see the sun is Monday. Talk about adding insult to injury.

I was up at 7 this morning, outside in the rain and trying to unblock the garage box gutter which was full of pine needles and moss, and therefore thoroughly incapable of emptying. We’re usually very good at keeping it clean, but the wind while we were away, with the assistance of the alien pine tree across the road, had filled the downpipe rather effectively, meaning that all of the rain was pouring into the garage through the roof.

A thoroughly unpleasant wake-up call after a lovely weekend away.

The rain shows no sign of stopping today or anytime soon, so I’m planning all my necessary travel around places that have indoor parking. And taking an umbrella to anywhere else.

Stay safe, stay warm, help others to do the same wherever you can.

Back home, but what a day!

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Hey – I called it!

Awoken at 5:30 by excited voices outside, I chose to turn over and hide under the duvet a bit more. But then once we did get up, we were in a full-on winter wonderland.

And we were like kids again. Snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights: snow end to the fun you can have with some white stuff (careful now). I’m thinking we got about 10-12cm, which is far more than I’ve ever seen here in SA before. And to (literally) wake up to it (literally) on our doorstep instead of having to get up at 4am to make a Groot Trek out from Cape Town was such a bonus.

So much so, that after some more fun, some breakfast, and copious cups of hot things, we took the long road back, as the grey skies gave way to blue:

And what a drive it was:

Back through Montagu with the essential stop at the Spar there for coffee and sandwiches…

…back through du Toits Kloof and the Holiday Portal and home.

I’ve got (ahem) “several” more images to go through and remove snowflake lens spots and the like, so maybe there will be more to come, but after a couple of amazing days away, today was such a bonus as we headed back home.

Chilly, but chilled

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Hello from somewhere near Touwsrivier.

Gone is yesterday’s sunshine, which we made good use of with an 11½km hike through the local nature reserve, looking for fossils and enjoying the views of the snow-capped peaks of the Matroosberg.

It’s Sunday lunchtime, and ostensibly, it’s 3 degrees outside. But with a biting northwester and horizontal rain/sleet, I’m fairly sure it will feel a lot colder out there. Even the baboons have sought shelter on the leeward side of the camp infrastructure, and they’re seriously tough guys.
It’s definitely warmer inside the tent, but not by too much. Everyone else is in their beds, sensibly enjoying the luxury strength duvets. Probably Hungarian goose.
I can see my breath in front of my face in here, and I’m sitting only a couple of metres from a wood-burning stove.

Which is burning wood, by the way.

I chose to lob on a beanie, a rainproof jacket and some shorts and go for a 6km run this morning, past the incredulous, sheltering farmworkers and out along the tracks into the Karoo. And while it was very hard work in the wind and the cold, it was also really exhilarating. I’m never going to put myself into an ice bath or even a tidal pool, but a half hour this morning with just myself and the elements was superb.

I’ve never seen my legs go that colour before, though.
I’m not even sure that there’s a name for it.

The temperature is dropping now. Not just because the sun (ha!) has past its highest point for the day, but because the post-cold front weather is moving in. We’re mentally preparing ourselves for tomorrow morning, which is now forecast to have an actual high of -1 and a “feels like” of -8.

I’m hopeful that it won’t be long before this rain turns to something fluffier and whiter, which would be a perfect end to a lovely – if bitterly, bitterly cold – family weekend away.

A long weekend away

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The beaglesitter is booked.
We’re taking a longish, leisurely drive north and east (well, we couldn’t exactly go south and west, now could we?) and spending a few days inland.

There will be internet there, apparently, but if you know me, then you’ll know that I’m all about certainty, and so 6000 miles… is covered for the weekend with pre-written posts. You might not even notice: after all, you haven’t spotted that this one was written on Tuesday, have you?

Or have you?

The weather might or might not play ball, but when it rains in Cape Town at this time of year, there’s always a good chance of some snow where we’re headed, so some precipitation certainly won’t be the end of the world.

And it’s not like we’re going to be able to feel anything anyway…

“Feels like -4o“

That’s going to bring back some childhood memories. But probably only for me.

Because of Cape Town’s geography, it is rare to see anything too deep into single figures, even in the middle of winter. In fact, the lowest ever recorded temperature here was only 3.1o in August 2022.

So 1o is going to be pretty… mmm… “different”.

I might pack another pair of socks.