WunderBlog Archive » Weather Extremes
Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.New Cold Record for South Africa?
New Cold Record for South Africa?
The South African Weather Service reported a low temperature of -19.5°C (-3.1°F) at Buffelsfontein on Friday August 23rd. If verified this would be the coldest temperature ever measured in the country.
The preliminary national weather extremes table for South Africa on Thursday-Friday August 22-23. Table from the South African Weather Service.
The previous record cold for South Africa was -18.6°C (-1.5°F) set on June 28, 1996 also at Buffelsfontein. This site is apparently a large farm of some sort near the town of Molteno (not to be confused with the Buffelsfontein Game and Nature Reserve near Cape Town). It has an elevation of 1780 m (5875 feet). (NOTE: yesterday I posted the wrong location of the site).
Location of Molteno which is the town nearest the farm Buffelsfontein in South Africa's East Cape Province. Map from Wikipedia.
However, this reading is most likely an error. Although Buffelsfontein is known as having measured the coldest temperature in South Africa previously, this occurred during an exceptional cold spell whereas on Friday temperatures at most other locations in South Africa were not abnormally cold and, according to temperature climatologist and temperature detective Maximiliano Herrera, no other main site in the country recorded a temperature lower than -8.0°C (17.6°F). Max says he has observed some irregular temperatures coming from a number of sites in South Africa and Namibia recently with anomalous temperature departures of as much as 10°-15°C (18°-27°F) below reality. This may be the case with Buffelsfontein, especially since no other site in the country has come within 10-15°C of their record low.
Also, there has been no mention of this ‘new national record’ in the South African media, which is odd. So, for the time being, I don’t think we can accept this as an official record pending further verification from the South African meteorological authorities.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
The South African Weather Service reported a low temperature of -19.5°C (-3.1°F) at Buffelsfontein on Friday August 23rd. If verified this would be the coldest temperature ever measured in the country.
The preliminary national weather extremes table for South Africa on Thursday-Friday August 22-23. Table from the South African Weather Service.
The previous record cold for South Africa was -18.6°C (-1.5°F) set on June 28, 1996 also at Buffelsfontein. This site is apparently a large farm of some sort near the town of Molteno (not to be confused with the Buffelsfontein Game and Nature Reserve near Cape Town). It has an elevation of 1780 m (5875 feet). (NOTE: yesterday I posted the wrong location of the site).
Location of Molteno which is the town nearest the farm Buffelsfontein in South Africa's East Cape Province. Map from Wikipedia.
However, this reading is most likely an error. Although Buffelsfontein is known as having measured the coldest temperature in South Africa previously, this occurred during an exceptional cold spell whereas on Friday temperatures at most other locations in South Africa were not abnormally cold and, according to temperature climatologist and temperature detective Maximiliano Herrera, no other main site in the country recorded a temperature lower than -8.0°C (17.6°F). Max says he has observed some irregular temperatures coming from a number of sites in South Africa and Namibia recently with anomalous temperature departures of as much as 10°-15°C (18°-27°F) below reality. This may be the case with Buffelsfontein, especially since no other site in the country has come within 10-15°C of their record low.
Also, there has been no mention of this ‘new national record’ in the South African media, which is odd. So, for the time being, I don’t think we can accept this as an official record pending further verification from the South African meteorological authorities.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.