The thousands of runners participating in the Comrades 2025 ultramarathon this weekend can expect predominantly mild to warm and windy conditions, with partly cloudy to cloudy skies.
On Sunday, 8 June, the 98th edition of the Comrades Marathon will take place between Pietermaritzburg and Durban with as many as 22 677 runners.
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has cautioned runners about a cool change in the weather later in the day.
“… A coastal low and cold front are expected to move northwards up the KwaZulu-Natal coast, introducing colder, more moist conditions to the coast and adjacent interior.
“Moreover, there will be a risk of showers or thunderstorms developing over the Drakensberg, spreading to the coast in the evening,” SAWS said on Friday.
A particularly intense cut-off low system, associated with severe and extreme winter weather, is expected to affect South Africa in the coming days.
The weather service indicated that this system will begin affecting the Western and Northern Cape early on Saturday morning, 7 June 2025.
“By Monday, 9 June 2025 and Tuesday, 10 June 2025, this extensive and severe winter weather system will have shifted further east over South Africa, affecting the central and eastern provinces.
“A significant and dramatic drop in daytime temperatures can be expected over all provinces, with the possible exception of Limpopo. Consequently, farmers of small stock are strongly advised to implement appropriate measures to prevent stock losses due to exposure to bitter cold and wind,” the SAWS said on Thursday.
The weather service has warned of snowfall over almost every province, with the exception of Limpopo.
Some of these snowfalls will be disruptive, affecting traffic flow over mountain passes, for example, the N3 highway at Van Reenen’s pass on Monday, 9 June 2025 and Tuesday, 10 June 2025.
“Given the intensity of the COL system, there is a low probability that Gauteng and the highveld region of Mpumalanga may experience light snowfalls Monday night, 9 June 2025, extending into Tuesday, 10 June 2025. However, at this stage there is significant uncertainty amongst the various numeric weather prediction models in this regard.
“Heavy rainfall leading to localised flooding and infrastructure damage will be experienced over parts of the Eastern Cape coast and adjacent interior on Sunday, shifting to southern KwaZulu-Natal on Monday,” SAWS said.
As of Sunday, many provinces will experience bitterly cold daytime conditions, with maximum temperatures unlikely to exceed +10 C. These conditions will be exacerbated by strong, gusty winds.
Strong, damaging surface winds can be expected over large parts of the interior provinces from Sunday, leading to an elevated risk of wildfires, especially over the central and eastern interior, ahead of the cold change.
These extreme conditions are expected to persist over some of the eastern provinces until Wednesday.
“Strong to near-gale force coastal winds and very rough seas from Friday along the south-west coast, spreading to the south and east coasts during Saturday, and lasting until at least Tuesday along the east coast,” SAWS said. – SAnews.gov.za
