SAWS Warns of Flood-Level Rainfall Across South Africa

• The South African Weather Service has warned that much of the country should expect heavy rainfall
• Weather warnings have been issued for provinces like KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Free State and the North West
• The conditions are expected to continue over the weekend, and South Africans have been urged to be careful

For seven years, Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of Current Affairs, South Africa, covered a range of topics, including accidents, fires, outbreaks, nature, weather, and natural disaster-related incidents, at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

GAUTENG — The South African Weather Service (SAWS) predicted that the country will experience a wet weekend with heavy rainfall that could lead to flooding in some areas. SAWS issued multiple weather warnings across the country.

According to SAWS, the weather conditions commenced on 5 March 2026 when much of the country experienced heavy rainfall. An Orange Level 5 warning was issued for parts of the Northern Cape and parts of the Free State. The region experienced heavy downpours accompanied by frequent lightning and large amounts of hail, similar to conditions. Heavy downpours and thunderstorms hit the rest of the Northern Cape and North West provinces.

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Weather system brings downpours

SAWS noted that an upper-air trough is currently dominating the circulation pattern over the central interior of the country, and this will continue to bring widespread showers and thunderstorms over parts of the Northern Cape, the Free State, and most of the Eastern Cape. Another Orange Level 5 warning was issued for the northern parts of the Northern Cape, much of the North West, and much of the Free State. This is caused by the eastward movement of the upper-air system, which will evolve into a tropical temperate trough, which is a rainfall-producing weather system that transports large amounts of moisture from Africa’s tropical regions.

“This system is expected to further develop and intensify over the eastern interior from Friday, 6 March 2026, bringing persistent rain and thundershowers to parts of the North West, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo,” SAWS pointed out.

Rainfall and cold weather on the weekend

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Yellow Level 2 and Yellow Level 4 warnings have been issued for Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal. The central parts of the country, including the entire Gauteng, Free State, and North West provinces, and parts of Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape, will experience 80% chance of rainfall, which could cause flooding.

SAWS noted that the tropical temperate trough system will move further east on the weekend of 7 and 8 March 2026. The cold front will pass through the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal and much of Mpumalanga. Both these provinces will experience an 80% chance of rain, while Limpopo, Gauteng, parts of the Free State, the North West, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal will experience a 60% chance of rainfall.

3 Briefly News articles about SAWS

• SAWS warned of the continued heavy rainfalls that battered Limpopo and Mpumalanga in January 2026. Both provinces experienced severe flooding, which damaged infrastructure and claimed lives.
• Temperatures in parts of the country dramatically increased, and KwaZulu-Natal was the hardest hit in early February 2026. A forecaster noted that the temperatures dropped below the threshold set by SAWS but were still fairly high.
• SAWS issued a Yellow Level 4 warning for most of the country on 24 February 2026. The warning was accompanied by heavy rainfall, which caused flooding in some areas.

Source: Briefly News