Snow Watch 2013

Interesting that the big snow-producing front that just hit the Western and Eastern Cape didn't affect the Berg much. I did notice a picture posted on Facebook of the Berg taken in the Elliot area:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=338188629641831&set=a.312313212229373.1073741828.312197008907660&type=1&theater

I looked at yesterday's sat image and found this:


Circle No 1 is roughly the Xalanga Peak area, the tail end of the Berg. Circle No 2 is roughly part of the Witteberg.

Well spotted again, Intrepid. Looks like we're clutching at straws recently while the Western Cape had good snow at 1400m!

So I guess this minor event would technically qualify as Snowfall 8?

Clark wrote: Historically speaking, what area of the berg would have the greatest chance of a snowfall? I'm planning a trip for the end of June and want to put myself in the best position to experience snow on the escarpment. I realise there are no guarantees but any suggestions?

I've just had a look at all of my saved satellite images from 2011 ( I havent got round to downloading all the 2012 images yet)

But I do see that all the major winter snow events seem to drop snow quite evenly from Southern to Northern Berg along the escarpment.

One difference between the North and South is the elevation of the snowline. Snow tends to fall down to much lower elevations in the Southern Berg.

Ive corrected my own observations on the sat image posted yesterday and uploaded a new version. Circle No 1 is actually the Xalanaga Peak area, showing a reasonable snow-cover. Circle No.2 is roughly part of the Witteberg.

Yes I would say this is No 8, which is actually better than the first picture that was painted.

Snow-forecast.com is suggesting that on Sunday there may be some very light snow on the Eastern Cape Drakensberg and up to about the Garden Castle region. Although not a very strong cold front, what is different about this one is that the atmospheric freezing level will be a lot lower than the previous few fronts. It may touch below 1900m briefly late on Sunday.

EDIT- The updated forecast is now showing light snow for most of the Drakensberg escarpment

Well the low freezing levels have materialised as predicted, and brought some "ground" level snow to a number of places.

From Snow Report SA:


"We have had reports of snow from the following areas this morning : Matatielle, Underberg, Lake Naverone, St.Bernards Peak, Elliot, Swartberg Pass, Barkly Pass, Lootsberg Pass, Molteno, Hogsback....... and this is just the initial list!!"