Golfball-Size Hail Hits Joburg Area After Record Heat PICTURES
Right on the heels of a record heatwave in Gauteng, an area near Johannesburg was hit by a massive hailstorm on Saturday afternoon, leading to the evacuation of a shopping centre after its roof collapsed, according to the Weather Channel. The Key West Shopping center in Krugersdorp was hit by the storm at around 4pm. Pictures of severe damage were circulating soon […]
Right on the heels of a record heatwave in Gauteng, an area near Johannesburg was hit by a massive hailstorm on Saturday afternoon, leading to the evacuation of a shopping centre after its roof collapsed, according to the Weather Channel.
The Key West Shopping center in Krugersdorp was hit by the storm at around 4pm. Pictures of severe damage were circulating soon afterwards. The South African Weather Service had issued warnings of severe thunderstorms for Saturday in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The cool weather came almost hours after the heat of last week, and while many feared the damage it would and did cause, others were grateful for the relief (see the video at end where people play in the hail).
Johannesburg established a new all-time record high of 38.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, only to break it again Thursday with a high of 38.9 C, the Weather Service said. The previous record of 36.5 C had just been set 11 November, 2015.
It has been a record-breaking spring and summer in South Africa so far. In October, the town of Vredendal broke the all-time world record high for the month of October, hitting 48.4 C. Earlier this week, Augrabies Falls National Park reached a scorching 48.6 C.
“The Johannesburg area has been in the grips of extremely hot and dry air this week, establishing new all-time record high temperatures,” weather.com senior digital meteorologist Nick Wiltgen said. “It appears that some cooler and more humid air started to push in from the south and east on Saturday, likely triggering these thunderstorms. Weather balloon data from Pretoria a few hours before the hailstorm showed an obvious intrusion of cold dry air in the upper atmosphere, a factor that strongly favors damaging hail when overall conditions are favorable for thunderstorm development.”
A video posted on Twitter by Buks Maartens taken during the storm:
Some Duck Diving after huge #rain & #hailstorm in #Johannesburg with @fransmaartens #fun #sadrought #welcome pic.twitter.com/GGDnu95esv
— Buks Maartens (@BuksMaartens) January 9, 2016