Odd, Huge September Snow Slams Parts Of South Africa Of All Places

Unusual heavy snows in South Africa stranded hundreds
if not thousands of people on a major highway over
the weekend. 

 A bizarre snowstorm struck some high country in South Africa between Johannesburg and Durban Saturday, trapping perhaps thousands of motorists on a major highway.  

As much as six feet of snow quickly piled up in the weekend storm.

At least one person was reported dead from hypothermia, and there were reports of people trapped in cars who were  running out of fuel and food. 

Rescue workers with blankets and food were trying to reach the motorists amid forecasts of more snow. 

Some people were stranded in vehicles for nearly two days. 

The highway was reopened and traffic was moving again Monday, but motorists were advised to drive slowly, and avoid the snowy area during the night for now. 

Snow does sometimes fall in some high elevations of South Africa but it's exceptionally rare to see something this deep and widespread.

In areas where the snow was not as deep and dangerous, people drove for hours for the rare opportunity to see snow.

The snowstorm was caused by a cut off low pressure system, meaning it was cut off from the jet stream, enabling it to meander around South Africa, dumping heavy precipitation. 

The storm was well-warned, but South Africa doesn't have the infrastructure in place to deal with big snowstorms, since they're relatively rare, reports TimesLive.

Snow does occasionally hit parts of South Africa, even in September when spring is just beginning to arrive in the Southern Hemisphere. However, the snow in this event was much more intense than almost all past storms. 

South African Flood Likely Worst In Nation's History

This AP photo of shipping containers swept away by
water indicate the power of the recent South African flooding.

 I'm kind of surprised that a disaster this big has received almost no attention. 

A massive storm has hit parts of South Africa in the past few weeks, causing an epic flood that resulted in at least 440 deaths. 

The Washington Post and several other news outlets did report on this calamity, but the South African disaster did not garner big-time headlines or huge amounts of notice. 

The Associated Press on Tuesday said 448 people have been confirmed dead in the flooding and mudslides and another 40 or so people are still missing. 

The worst of the flooding  hit around the city of Durban and the surrounding KwaZulu-Natal province, the AP reports.  

The extreme rains caused huge landslides that swept buildings down hillsides and buried an unknown number of victims.  

According to The Washington Post:

"Rainfall was primarily caused by subtropical storm Issa, which was named on April 12 off the coast of South Africa. More than 200 millimeters (7.9 inches) of rain fell in 24 hours, with some stations reporting more than 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) as of Tuesday."  

That 11.9 inches of rain within 24 hours fell on Durban, South Africa.  That was four times the amount of rain the city normally sees in a full month. On a single day! That stat is incredible.  

In and around Durban, at least 40,000 people remain homeless due to the flooding. Damage to infrastructure alone, never mind homes and businesses is at least $400 million. 

South African President Cyril Ramophosa promised that government money for flood victims will not go to corruption, but more than a few South Africans are skeptical. 

The AP reports: 

"Ramaphosa's remarks come after widespread graft was uncovered by the state's Special Investigating Unit in state funds that were supposed to help the nation respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Former Health Minister Zweli Mkize resigned after the investigation found that businesses linked to his family benefitted from inflated COVID-19 contracts from his department." 

Like many other parts of the world, South Africa has in recent years been rocked by dramatic and dangerous weather extremes.  Climate change is at  least partly responsible for these events. 

The city of Cape Town, South Africa, with a population of about 4.7 million (including my dear friends Denis and Michael, hi there!) almost completely ran out of water in 2018 in the infamous "Day Zero" drought.

Cape Town was not seriously affected by the recent flooding as it's around 800 miles from Durban. But rains have helped the city's reservoirs recover, at least for now. 

South African Wildfire Wipes Out Collection Of Precious African History

University of Cape Town, South Africa in flames as a 
wildfire roared onto the college campus. The fire
destroyed many priceless records and artifacts. 

Globally, wildfires are an increasing danger as climate change intensifies local droughts.

An especially tragic one hit Cape Town, South Africa last week, causing serious damage, especially to the University of Cape Town. 

The journal Nature reports:

"The library complex houses UCT's Special Collections, which hold irreplaceable artifacts, including annotated watercolors of plant and animals dated from 1881, painted by Indigenous inhabitants of the Cape. It also holds maps, manuscripts, and government records from the Cape's mottled past - including its colonial and military history."

Other dangerous wildfires broke out in recent days in Arizona, and in of all places, Northern Ireland. 

The South African fire was easily the worst, and demonstrates how wildfires can have devastating effects in ways that surprise and crush the spirit. 

The fire gutted the University of Cape Town African Studies Library, home to a collection of African history.

The usual suspects are to blame for this terrible wildfire. While officials haven't pinned down the exact source of the fire, it's widely believed to have been started by humans, as are most wildfires. 

Perhaps it was somebody cooking in the woods, and the fire got out of hand.  An arsonist was arrested, but at last report it's unclear if that person was responsible for the conflagration. 

The fire took off due to unusually hot, dry and windy weather.  A specific hot spell like the one that hit Cape Town at the time of the fire cannot be readily attributed to climate change. But weather like that becomes more likely in a warming world.  

According to Nature, researchers have put up an online page asking anyone with photos or digital scans of the library's collections to upload them. 

Notes Nature:

"''This archive is special for all sorts of reasons, and for me it's because it includes collections which provide a record of the ordinary lives of ordinary people in the area - from working-class children to Black students attending night school, says Sarah Emily Duff, a historian of South Africa based at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. 'We lose that texture of everyday life and struggles with a catastrophe like this,' she added." 

If this fire was brought on by climate change, there's a little irony in the damage to University:

"The university's botany building was also seriously damaged. In the Plant Conservation Unit, where researchers track changes in studying fossilized pollen and comparing historical photos with current day images, the damage is total, says the unit's leader, Timm Hoffman a historical ecologist."

 Some student housing and a restaurant also burned down in the fire. 

The following seems odd, since we think of Northern Ireland as damp, but a wildfire in the Mourne Mountains there has caused a lot of damage to fauna and wildlife. 

This is the second spring in a row damaging wildfires have struck Northern Ireland.