The South African Weather Service has issued an advisory for persistently high temperatures in the North West, Free State, southern Gauteng and the northeastern Northern Cape until Friday, alongside warnings of extremely high fire danger in six provinces on Wednesday.
Where the heat is
The heatwave advisory covers the North West and Free State (except the southwest), southern Gauteng and the northeastern Northern Cape. It runs until Friday.
Where fire danger is extreme
The weather service warned of "extremely high fire danger conditions" in:
- the Northern Cape;
- eastern North West and the Free State;
- the northeastern Western Cape;
- parts of the southwestern Bushveld in Limpopo; and
- three Eastern Cape municipalities: Dr Beyers Naudé, Inxuba Yethemba and Walter Sisulu.
The outlook by province
- Gauteng: partly cloudy and warm to hot, with a very high UV index.
- North West and Free State: fine and hot to very hot, with the east becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon.
- Northern Cape and Limpopo: hot to very hot.
- Western Cape: fine and hot in most areas, with a high UV index, and cloud along the south coast.
- Eastern Cape: very hot in the north, and warm to hot in the east.
- KwaZulu-Natal: fine and warm.
Isolated showers are possible in eastern parts of the country on Thursday, but not today, according to the forecast.
The water angle
The heat comes after the Department of Water and Sanitation urged Gauteng residents earlier this month to cut water use as a heatwave and El Niño raise the risk of shortages.
What we do not yet know
We have not seen the formal advisory text, so the exact warning levels and the full list of affected districts are unconfirmed. This report draws on a single summary of the forecast and will be checked against the weather service's own warnings.
