Snow Watch 2011

This one tried to sneak past us! August 24th, when we had those terrible winds, good snowfall in the Eastern Cape Berg around Tiffendel and neighbouring Thaba Ntso in Lesotho. Also in western Lesotho on the Thaba Putsoa range, which melted rapidly, but the extent of it was visible in the sat image from the 24th below:



This clear image from the 25th shows the thick snow around Tiffendel, a little further south and the remains in western Lesotho. The rest of the snow in the northern parts is old.

So, the snow cover that lasted almost 2 months has been broken. Only thin patches left on the highest of ridges, and probably in shady gullies and slopes. I do anticipate more snowfalls, but the cover won't persist like it did in June/July.

Not much was said about the August 6 snowfall in this thread. It was a very significant one which I think needed further mention. Lots of people were in the Berg at the time since it was a long weekend, so the event was well captured on camera.

It was snowing early in the day already from contour path level and up. Below that it was sleet and fine rain. In the evening the snowfall picked up and the snowline dropped below contour path level. August 6 was largely cloudy, misty and gloomy. On August 7 it was clear, particularly in the morning. This is when most cameras started clicking, not many images made it into this thread, though they certainly did elsewhere on the site:

* Several images are available in the Winter 2011 gallery , especially from Cathedral Peak area, and some from Monk's Cowl/Injisuthi.
* Several pics of Cowl Pass, Injisuthi side, in the Advice for solo Berg hike thread
* Several pics of Giants Castle area (Giants Pass/Langalibalele Pass) on this page of the Long Weekend thread
* Several pics of Leslies Pass on this page of Long Weekend thread
* Many pictures of the Bell Traverse on the Hike Report - Bell Traverse via Cathedral Peak thread

And, to round it off, here is the impressive satellite image from August 7th:

Afriski has closed for skiing for the season.

A friend of mine reported cold, rainy conditions in Underberg this morning. They were waiting for the clouds to lift to confirm a thin sprinking of snow. So I waited for the morning sat image and this is what presented itself (the thin strips of red is the snow):


Indeed a thin sprinkling on the escarpment North of Sani Pass, and some around the Devils Knuckles and Sehlabathebe. Also some in the Eastern Cape section, from Naude's Neck and up North a little.

Just got an SMS from diverian who is camping at Injisuthi currently. It has been raining all day but it cleared towards evening showing light snowfall on the peaks around Champagne Castle!

I was wondering about snow today but could not get a clear view on the satellite images yet.

And here it is:



Small bit Afriski, but mainly around Champagne Castle, Mafadi-Makheka, Giants Castle, Thabana Ntlenyana, Leqooa Ridge. Small bit in the Eastern Cape parts roughly around Naude's Neck.

The light snowfall intrepid refered to on 3 October

Nice shot with the clouds below!

Lol, not quite Summer yet!