{"id":51284,"date":"2023-07-11T11:15:42","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T11:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now"},"modified":"2023-07-11T11:15:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T11:15:42","slug":"life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now","title":{"rendered":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>In scenes reminiscent of cheerful and cheesy Hollywood festive season movies, residents of Johannesburg, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape frolicked among the snowflakes which flittered down from the sky unexpectedly on Monday.<\/p>\n

Adults took snow selfies, children built mini-snowmen and one golfer even took to the course despite a white blanket across the greens.<\/p>\n

It was a day many will remember for the rest of their lives, as the usually dry, drab Highveld plateau was covered with frosty snow.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the south and central parts of Johannesburg woke up to a light dusting of snow, and as temperatures reached around 3\u00b0C, the snow thickened and spread from the southern to the northern suburbs.<\/p>\n

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, the flakes danced in the wind, then fell, thinned out, and danced again as the pressure system cycled around the metro.<\/p>\n

At midmorning, students at the University of Witwatersrand were caught on the campus webcam making snow angels in front of the Great Hall.<\/p>\n

In Alberton, the snow was thick, piling up on the bonnets of cars driving in Brackenhurst and Meyersdal.<\/p>\n

It came down hard in Sandton, pelting shoppers who took a break from spending at Sandton City.<\/p>\n

Soweto, Roodepoort, Heidelberg and Vosloorus all woke up to white lawns. And it came down from around 08:30 in Randburg, lasting until the early afternoon.<\/p>\n

Gauteng Metrorail passengers were also affected as the cold shut down most train networks.<\/p>\n

South African Weather Service (SAWS) forecaster Wayne Venter said the conditions were right for snow on Monday, but Johannesburg would not see a second snow day.<\/p>\n

He added there had now been 19 “proper snow days” in Johannesburg since 1909.<\/p>\n

Of these dates, Pretoria also experienced snow in June 1968 and August 2012.<\/p>\n

But on those days, Venter said Johannesburg experienced more snow than Pretoria because of the city’s altitude compared to that of the administrative capital.<\/p>\n

He noted the snow days seemed to come in groupings every 10 or so years.<\/p>\n

But Venter cautioned there was not enough evidence to show a pattern.<\/p>\n

Scientists still do not know what exactly caused snow to fall in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

According to Venter, there was not enough evidence, but theories included the La Nin\u0303a weather pattern.<\/p>\n

The La Nin\u0303a pattern sees cooler sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean off the east of South Africa. This brings more rain to the country than usual.<\/p>\n

Professor Jennifer Fitchett from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at Wits said there needed to be precipitation for snow to fall.<\/p>\n

When it reaches temperatures just above 0\u00b0C, this water vapour freezes into tiny ice crystals in the clouds and sticks together to form a flake.<\/p>\n

Once the flake is heavy enough, like with rain, it will fall to the ground.<\/p>\n

“It’s certainly unusual (snow in Johannesburg), but not unprecedented,” Fitchett added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, disgruntled Gauteng residents who missed out on the snow have taken their grievances to the Office of the Public Protector.<\/p>\n

Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba tweeted the Public Protector, asking why they were being discriminated against.<\/p>\n

“Why is the snow discrimination in Gauteng? Joburgers are gloating here about snow, and there’s none in the capital city. I’m going to lodge a complaint with the Public Protector to investigate this matter thoroughly.”<\/p>\n

Joining the joyful spirit of the tweet, the Office of the Public Protector responded: “Unfortunately, our mandate does not cover investigating issues of snowfall or alleged discrimination therein. However, we are also concerned, and as a result, will certainly look into it.”<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. In scenes reminiscent of cheerful and cheesy Hollywood festive season movies, residents of Johannesburg, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape frolicked among the snowflakes which flittered down from the sky unexpectedly on Monday. Adults took snow selfies, children built mini-snowmen and one golfer even took to the course despite a white blanket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[274,315,309,310,3030,275,338,5789],"class_list":["post-51284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-gauteng","tag-johannesburg","tag-sa-weather-service","tag-south-africa-2","tag-weather","tag-weather-forecast"],"yoast_head":"\nLife in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – South-Africa. In scenes reminiscent of cheerful and cheesy Hollywood festive season movies, residents of Johannesburg, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape frolicked among the snowflakes which flittered down from the sky unexpectedly on Monday. Adults took snow selfies, children built mini-snowmen and one golfer even took to the course despite a white blanket […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-11T11:15:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-11T11:15:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"gauteng\",\"johannesburg\",\"sa weather service\",\"South-Africa\",\"weather\",\"weather forecast\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\",\"name\":\"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-11T11:15:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now - South Africa","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now","og_description":"Africa-Press – South-Africa. In scenes reminiscent of cheerful and cheesy Hollywood festive season movies, residents of Johannesburg, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape frolicked among the snowflakes which flittered down from the sky unexpectedly on Monday. Adults took snow selfies, children built mini-snowmen and one golfer even took to the course despite a white blanket […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-07-11T11:15:42+00:00","author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now","datePublished":"2023-07-11T11:15:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now"},"wordCount":618,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","gauteng","johannesburg","sa weather service","South-Africa","weather","weather forecast"],"articleSection":["all news","community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now","name":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-11T11:15:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/07\/sm_1689062235.726096.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"caption":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/life-in-the-frost-lane-joburg-revels-in-rare-snowfall-but-that-could-be-it-for-now#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Life in the frost lane: Joburg revels in rare snowfall, but that could be it for now"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}