The South African Weather Service (Saws) confirmed that a tornado swept through Heilbron, Free State, on Monday, 24 November.
This comes after a yellow level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms, with heavy downpours, hail, strong winds and intense lightning was issued.
FOOTAGE OF FREE STATE TORNADO
Several videos and pictures were widely shared on social media. Forecaster, Lehlohonolo Thobela, said, based on the findings, Saws classified the tornado as an EF0, the weakest on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. However, it is still considered a dangerous weather phenomenon.
An EF0 is estimated to have a wind speed of 105–137 km/h. The service said such tornadoes typically result in minor damage, including broken branches, shallow-rooted trees being pushed over, and light damage to roofs.
Thobela said it was likely that the tornado occurred in an open field between 3 pm – 4 pm and resulted in minor or no damage in the area.
“Research has shown that moist, converging air, low-level shear, and unstable environments colliding with cooler triggers are typical conditions conducive to tornadic and severe-convective activity in parts of South Africa like the Highveld, Free State, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal,” said Thobela.
MORE SEVERE WEATHER
The weather service urges citizens to always exercise caution during severe thunderstorms. More adverse weather is expected in the Free State. Saws says Wednesday, 26 November, will be cloudy with morning fog patches in places over the central and eastern parts. Otherwise, the province will be partly cloudy, windy and warm to hot, with isolated showers and thundershowers, except in the west.
In Bloemfontein, conditions will be partly cloudy, with isolated showers and thundershowers, a minimum of 14 and a maximum of 29 is expected.
Devastating weather also affected KwaZulu-Natal. Disaster management teams are searching for two missing people in New Hanover who were swept away by floods on Sunday. The body of a woman was recovered from a river, and hundreds of residents have been displaced.
