Meteorologists set out effects of climate change
Savage winter storms have caused devastation in the Eastern Cape but to the west, no-one died.
In 2025, more than 100 people died in the Oliver Tambo district near Mthatha — 37 were children.
The storm system was the same – a cut-off low pressure mid-latitude cyclone which tears off from the once-natural westerly up-and-down latitudinal drift of these frigid storms formed in the deep south Atlantic oceans.
An identical cyclone in August 1970 dumped 828mm of rain in six days, smashed bridges, tore roads apart and reduced this flooded newspaper to a single A4 page. Twelve people died, one a traffic officer.
There have been two cut-off low storms — one a week this month — and on Monday the Western Cape was being deluged by a typical winter’s storm, except it came in a battery of four fronts stacked in a row.
Natural systems are being amplified by what scientists across all fields are calling the Anthropocene — the simple, overwhelming impact of industry and consumption releasing billions of tonnes of pollution into the air, land and ocean.
The main source of this pollution, industries such as the fossil fuel miners, are doubling down on their efforts to drill, excavate, manufacture and package — all with devastating environmental consequences.
The SA Weather Service, which often reminds the public that it is the legal custodian of climate impacts, released a forward-looking statement on World Meteorological Day on March 23.
SAWS is a full member of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and aligns with its global standard for data collection, exchange, forecasting and more recently, early warning systems.
In its statement, the SAWS board said: “Climate change is not a distant threat; it is a present reality affecting lives, security and development.
“South Africa is a semi-arid country, prone to severe weather events such as drought, extreme heat, heavy rainfall, flooding, hail, tornadoes and lightning, among other things.
“Over the past few months, the country has experienced severe flooding in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and more recently, heat waves in the Western Cape.
“The January floods were officially declared a national disaster, with more than 35 lives lost and extensive damage to homes, roads and infrastructure.”
In recent months, it said, SA had faced “intensifying climate-related disasters”.
In a shift of public tone, the service called on the public to “stand united in our efforts to observe diligently, act decisively and prepare collectively”.
“Our weather and climate challenges are great, but so is our resolve”.
It dedicated itself to “understanding the Earth’s atmosphere and preserving its future”.
The WMO said extreme weather was consistently ranked as the top long-term risk by World Economic Forum business leaders.
“This is no surprise, given that extreme weather-related hazards caused reported economic losses of $4.3-trillion (R70.56-trillion) between 1970 and 2021 and killed nearly two-million people.
“The risks are increasing as rising temperatures fuel more intense heatwaves, extreme rainfall and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones.”
According to WMO’s State of the Global Climate report, 2025 was one of the world’s three warmest years on record. The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest.
“Record concentrations of greenhouse gases will lead to higher temperatures for generations to come,” it said.
Daily Dispatch