Friday’s weather: Severe thunderstorms, hail and strong winds forecast for parts of SA - IOL

A Yellow Level 2 warning has been issued for severe thunderstorms, excessive lightning, small hail and gusty winds in parts of the Northern Cape and Western Cape.

The South African Weather Service has issued a Yellow Level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms in parts of the Northern Cape and Western Cape.

The storms are expected to bring excessive lightning, large amounts of small hail and gusty winds to the western and southern parts of the Namakwa District Municipality in the Northern Cape, as well as the Central Karoo and West Coast districts of the Western Cape.

Extremely high fire danger conditions are also expected over the north-eastern parts of the Northern Cape.

In Gauteng, conditions will be partly cloudy and warm, with a very high UVB sunburn index.

Mpumalanga will have morning fog patches along the escarpment, followed by partly cloudy and cool to warm conditions. Isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers are expected, except in the extreme south-west.

In Limpopo, it will be cloudy in the east at first, otherwise partly cloudy and warm. Isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers are expected over parts of the east and south-west.

North West will be fine and warm before becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon, with isolated showers and thundershowers in the east.

The Free State will be fine and warm, becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon.

In the Northern Cape, partly cloudy and warm to hot conditions are expected, with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers over the south-eastern and central parts. Widespread showers and thundershowers are expected over the western parts and southern high ground.

The Western Cape will be partly cloudy over the Little and Central Karoo in the morning, with widespread showers and thundershowers developing by the afternoon. Elsewhere, cloudy and warm conditions with scattered showers and thundershowers are expected.

The western half of the Eastern Cape will have morning fog in places in the south, followed by fine and cool to warm conditions. It will become cloudy, with scattered showers and thundershowers, although these will be isolated along the coast.

The eastern half of the Eastern Cape will be cloudy, with fog patches in places south of the escarpment. Elsewhere, conditions will be fine and warm to hot before becoming cloudy, with isolated showers and thundershowers.

In KwaZulu-Natal, morning fog is expected over the interior, followed by partly cloudy and warm conditions. Isolated showers and thundershowers are expected in the extreme south-west and north-east.

UVB sunburn conditions are expected to be very high in Gauteng and the Western Cape, and high in KwaZulu-Natal.