Weather LATEST: SA breaks 19 cold temperature records

South Africa broke a whopping 19 cold weather records as a freezing cold front and snow swept parts of the country this week.

According to the South African Weather Service 19 parts of the country broke minimum temperature records, with some of the towns on Friday, experiencing the coldest temperates last seen half a century ago. 

Kimberly and Warmbad Toowoomba recorded below freezing temperatures last seen decades ago. In Kimberly the mercury hit a record low of -9.9 C, while  Warmbad Towoomba  recorded a slow of -5.6 C beating the previous low of -5.5C last recorded on 6 July 1964.

In Johannesburg temperatures plunged to -7 C, way lower than the previous record of -6.3 recorded on 19 July 1995.

View the full SAWS table of the 19 cold temperature records here:\

According to SAWS additional records included Krronstad which hit a low of -8 C and Bronkhorstspruit AWS where the temperature plunged to -7.4. 

Millions of South Africans across the country felt the biting chill of winter making its presence felt, from Gauteng all the way to Kimberley in the Northern Cape, where it snowed on Thursday 22 July.

This week the Eastern Cape was hit hardest by the blizzard-like conditions. The passes of Penhoek on the N6, Lootsberg on the N9, and Wapadsberg on the R61 were all shut off on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, drivers were advised to exercise extreme caution when travelling on the R56, and through Nico Malan pass.

Elsewhere, the Northern Cape ended up with a fairly respectable dusting. It was inevitable that our own winter paradise of Sutherland would end up with snow, but it would be the flakes falling in Kimberley that grabbed the headlines in this province. Snowfall is few and far between in this city, but locals were treated to the full works earlier in the day. Sporadic snowfall occurred in parts of the Western Cape this week.

The good news is that the cold should ease slightly over the weekend, but no need to bring out the summer clothes anytime soon.