[The weather is weird indeed. Those 34 new temperature records were set on my birthday of all days! Apparently over 20 people have died from the cold.

My late nephew’s wife lives in the eastern Cape – and there they have snow. The weather there is dreadful. She told me that on top of the icy rain and cold, they had power failures! What a mess. Even here in Johannesburg it is cold. The wind was howling for 2 days.

Finally temperatures are slowly rising.

I’ve decided that this winter I’m not in the mood to try swimming in my pool in the cold weather. So I bought myself a mountain bike and I’ve started cycling – for the first time in 28 years!! I’m very rusty… and the damned seat is hurting my fat backside! But I’m trying to cycle in the cold to get some exercise and to get my circulation going. I’m slowly getting going. I want to try to exercise more regularly in the winter. I’m not keen on swimming in the icy water any more. I’m tired of that after doing it for 3 winters. So I’m trying cycling and am delighted at how much effort it is. That’s just what I need. Jan]

THE icy weather of snow, hail and heavy rain that has swept across South Africa over the past few days has set 54 weather records.

The South African Weather Service said 34 new records were set on Monday and another 20 yesterday. Almost all records were for the lowest maximum and minimum daily temperatures in towns across the country.

Plettenberg Bay and Tsitsikamma both recorded their highest daily rainfall, at 68mm and 71.2mm respectively, on Monday. Plettenberg Bay recorded its lowest minimum temperature, 5.6(194)Â(176)°C, yesterday. Tsitsikamma had its lowest maximum temperature on Monday, 12.1(194)Â(176)°C, and its lowest minimum yesterday, 6.3(194)Â(176)°C.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded was -6(194)Â(176)°C in Welkom, while the lowest maximum temperature was a mere 1.7(194)Â(176)°C in Barkly East. Both were recorded on Monday night.

None of this week’s records reached the lowest temperature yet recorded in South Africa – -18.6(194)Â(176)°C recorded at Buffelsfontein in the Eastern Cape in 1996.

Other towns and areas recording their lowest minimum temperatures yet included: Carolina (-5.5(194)Â(176)°C), Vanwyksvlei (-4.3(194)Â(176)°C), Ventersdorp (-3.9(194)Â(176)°C), Witbank (-3.7(194)Â(176)°C), Gariep Dam (-3.7(194)Â(176)°C), Pofadder (-3.5(194)Â(176)°C), Upington (-3.1(194)Â(176)°C), Marken (-2.9(194)Â(176)°C), Taung (-2.5(194)Â(176)°C), Oudestad (-1.7(194)Â(176)°C) and Nieuwoudtville (-0.1(194)Â(176)°C).

Kuruman, Kathu and Gariep Dam all recorded their lowest maximum temperatures on Monday and lowest minimums yesterday.

Kuruman went from a high of 9.2(194)Â(176)°C to a low of -5.1(194)Â(176)°C, Kathu from 10.1(194)Â(176)°C to -5.1(194)Â(176)°C, and Gariep from 6.9(194)Â(176)°C to -3.7(194)Â(176)°C.

There was snow on all high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape, and on some of the low-lying areas, said Weather SA’s regional manager for the province, Hugh van Niekerk.

He said the Lootsberg pass on the N9 between Graaff-Reinet and Middelburg and the Penhoek pass on the N6 between Queenstown and Aliwal North were closed due to heavy snowfalls.

Van Niekerk said there had been snow in “just about the whole of the Eastern Cape” except the coastal region – on the Bamboesberge, at Joubertina, on the Tsitsikamma and Kouga mountains, at Hogsback, on the Outeniqua and Winterberg mountains, in the Barkly East and Molteno area, at Graaff-Reinet and Middelburg.

“There’ll still be a few snowfalls overnight tonight. It should start improving today,” said Van Niekerk.

A busload of travellers and 12 truckdrivers spent an icy night stranded on the Lootsberg pass in the Eastern Cape on Monday night when snow and ice made it impossible to negotiate the slippery road.

Morne Mulder, a traffic officer at Graaff-Reinett, said yesterday: “They didn’t get stuck because the snow was deep, but because the road was too slippery. There was ice on the roads, so they couldn’t move forward or backwards. So they sat there the whole night.”

Police and traffic officers went to their aid yesterday morning and cleared the road of ice. They ferried some of the bus passengers in their own vehicles.

The weather office in Cape Town said it would be fine but cold in Cape Town today, with a maximum temperature of 18(194)Â(176)°C and minimum of 2(194)Â(176)°C.

The cold front forecast to reach the city tomorrow would be fairly weak, the weather office said.

The maximum temperature tomorrow will be 17(194)Â(176)°C and the minimum 10(194)Â(176)°C.

URL: http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticle…/p>