Flash floods / snow in East London (South Africa) June 2011

Well today I was shocked to see these pictures that a friend sent me. My friend lives in South Africa EL.
She has lived there for 16yrs now and has NEVER seen weather like they are experiencing now.
My friend currently has no electric due to all the flooding/bad weather.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/900d4c997326.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/712a8d90e000.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1b00b5bff205.jpg[/atsimg]

The above images and many many more can be found on LINK FM South Africa


Now here is a link to what East London's climate should be throughout the year: Link to climate charts for East London South Africa

East London normally receives about 593mm of rain per year, with most rainfall occurring during summer. The chart below (lower left) shows the average rainfall values for East London per month. It receives the lowest rainfall (16mm) in July and the highest (79mm) in March. The monthly distribution of average daily maximum temperatures (centre chart below) shows that the average midday temperatures for East London range from 20°C in July to 26°C in February. The region is the coldest during July when the mercury drops to 9.3°C on average during the night. Consult the chart below (lower right) for an indication of the monthly variation of average minimum daily temperatures.

Now if it wasn't for my friend showing me these pictures i would have never known about all this flooding and snow where she is.

What do my fellow ATS members have to say about all this? Do you think its bizarre or just a cycle the Earth goes through form time to time?
Or is it completely normal?

Take that!.. global warming

its just some more century class weather......just like everythig else at the moment seems to be breaking or equalling century class records

Originally posted by coffeesniffer
its just some more century class weather......just like everythig else at the moment seems to be breaking or equalling century class records

Yes it seems that way, I'm going to have a busy week of researching weather trends over the past few hundred years.

reply to post by boo1981


So you're saying this weather is unusual for July in S. Africa, but you quote a source which states that July is typically the coldest month? You do know it's winter there, right?

It may be more intense that in years past, but I'm sure it's nothing too far out of the ordinary. Besides, considering all the off weather around the globe in recent months, this sort of thing is becoming common place.

reply to post by boo1981


Hi I am here in East London and saw the flooding first hand. My family has lived here for generations and none of us have EVER experienced weather like this before in East London. Luckily I have a 4x4 truck. I went through places that were over half a metre deep.

It also snowed here and we are in a sub tropical climate along the south eastern coast. The WARM Benguela current flows past our shores.

Cars floating all over, electrical lines torn down by the wind, roads washed away, people stranded in broken down cars. It was like a hurricane!

Scary stuff!

Originally posted by amaster
reply to post by boo1981

 

So you're saying this weather is unusual for July in S. Africa, but you quote a source which states that July is typically the coldest month? You do know it's winter there, right?

It may be more intense that in years past, but I'm sure it's nothing too far out of the ordinary. Besides, considering all the off weather around the globe in recent months, this sort of thing is becoming common place.

Yes i do know its there winter there and the above op happened in June not July!
My friend lives there and has never in the 16yrs of being there seen weather like this! I know 16yrs is not long in terms of history but even the locals there are saying it is very bad.

Originally posted by MrMedicine
reply to post by boo1981

 

Hi I am here in East London and saw the flooding first hand. My family has lived here for generations and none of us have EVER experienced weather like this before in East London. Luckily I have a 4x4 truck. I went through places that were over half a metre deep.

It also snowed here and we are in a sub tropical climate along the south eastern coast. The WARM Benguela current flows past our shores.

Cars floating all over, electrical lines torn down by the wind, roads washed away, people stranded in broken down cars. It was like a hurricane!

Scary stuff!

Thank you so much for your first hand input. And I hope you and your loved ones stay safe. It is shocking for me to see somewhere I regard as a summer Paradise have such harsh weather conditions such as this. For you to say its not normal is really concerning in my opinion.

Stay safe

reply to post by boo1981


It is definitely NOT normal. Even in the 70's when we had terrible floods, it wasn't nearly like this. Those floods in the 70's were in summer by the way and we get very little rain during winter. I mean for it to snow here makes no sense to me because it should be impossible. We are right next to the sea and at our altitude and latitude, it shouldn't happen.

We have also been experiencing extremely powerful winds that last for days on end every week since the end of March which is very uncharacteristic for East London.

Please also bare in mind that two weeks ago we were hit by floods that washed peoples homes away and destroyed millions of Rands worth of property.

One of our shopping centres, Vincent Park, used to experience perrenial flooding as it was built in a natural valley. Millions were spent on the installation of huge storm drains etc. It was said that it would be impossible to flood there again. Well, it did...

reply to post by MrMedicine


I can sort of relate to the constant wind. We have been getting it here on and off. It was so bad a couple of weeks ago that it snapped my rose bush and i had to cut it down!

Its so sad to hear that it took peoples homes away from them where you are. I really feel we could be in for a bad winter this year (I'm in the UK)

Something just doesn't sit right with me.....all this raging weather and natural disasters all at once. It in my opinion is getting worst.

I really hope you don't get anymore bad weather. I hope that your beautiful part of the world is restored again.

Forgot to add my friends picture of her land form when the floods started.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/478883778117.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by boo1981


Thank you OP.

However - (dun-dun-dun) - we have been issued an advisory from the met-office that we can expect more tonight and it has already started pouring...

reply to post by MrMedicine


Oh no, sorry to hear that.
I really hope it lets up for you soon.

reply to post by boo1981


Some more images:

INSANE!

I grew up in south africa, in 25 years I never saw snow there.

My Nan did say she see saw it snow once and it lasted for like 5 minutes. Totally crazy weather. Wow. S+F!

That's global warming for you

Wise man says "WHEN WILD WEATHER BECOMES 'NORMAL' WEATHER-HEAD FOR THE HILLS AND BUNKER UP"

Originally posted by thetruthseeker789
That's global warming for you

that would be a true statement
this is an effect of a warming planet,.
weather extremes,. then a snap and we will all miss the warm