Severe thunderstorms, hail, excessive lightning, and heavy rain are expected in at least five provinces.
Getty Images/Sarayut Thaneerat
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued warnings of severe thunderstorms, hail, excessive lightning, and heavy rain that could lead to flooding in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, and the Free State.
Damaging winds and waves are forecast for the Western Cape, while hot and humid conditions are expected in KwaZulu-Natal.
Impact-based warnings
Yellow Level 4 Warning: Severe thunderstorms leading to strong, damaging winds, hail, excessive lightning and possible heavy downpours leading to flooding and damage to susceptible formal/informal settlements and infrastructure can be expected over the eastern and south-western parts of Limpopo, the northern parts of Gauteng, as well as the extreme north-western parts of Mpumalanga.
Yellow Level 2 warning: Severe thunderstorms leading to flooding of susceptible roads, low-lying areas and bridges, as well as damage to infrastructure and informal settlements, can be expected over the central parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the southern parts of Gauteng, the western and extreme eastern parts of the North West, as well as the western and central parts of the Free State.
Weather forecast for today and tomorrow, 20-21 April 2026:
Partly cloudy and cool to warm with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers but widespread in the north-east⚠️Severe thunderstorms, storm surge, damaging winds and waves#saws #SAWeather #Warning pic.twitter.com/o7gevbwWNx— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) April 20, 2026
Yellow Level 2 warning: Damaging winds and waves leading to disruption to ports/small harbours activities for a short period of time, and difficulty in navigation at sea can be expected between Alexander Bay and Plettenberg Bay.
In the SAWS’ colour-coded weather warning system, yellow indicates a moderate risk of impact that requires caution and awareness, while orange indicates that a higher-risk impact is expected, requiring increased attention and preparation.
SAWS uses the numbers to indicate the likelihood of weather-based impacts occurring. Levels 2 and 6 are high, and Level 4 is low.
Advisories
Hot and humid weather conditions will result in extremely uncomfortable conditions over the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal and the adjacent interior.
The weather in your province
Gauteng: Cloudy and warm with scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the northern parts.
Pretoria: 15 — 24°C
Johannesburg: 14 — 23°C
Vereeniging: 14 — 24°C
Mpumalanga: Morning fog along the escarpment, otherwise cloudy and cool with scattered showers and thundershowers, but widespread in the north-eastern Highveld. It will be warm over the Lowveld.
Mbombela: 18 — 25°C
Ermelo: 16 — 23°C
Emalahleni: 13 — 24°C
Standerton: 12 — 28°C
Skukuza: 21 — 28°C
Limpopo: Morning fog along the escarpment, otherwise cloudy and cool to warm with widespread showers and thundershowers, but scattered over the central and south-eastern parts.
Polokwane: 16 — 24°C
Phalaborwa: 21 — 27°C
Tzaneen: 18 — 22°C
Musina: 22 — 28°C
Lephalale: 18 — 29°C
Mokopane: 18 — 26°C
North West: Partly cloudy and cool to warm, with scattered showers and thundershowers.
Klerksdorp: 12 — 25°C
Potchefstroom: 13 — 24°C
Mahikeng: 14 — 26°C
Rustenburg: 16 — 26°C
Vryburg: 9 — 26°C
Free State: Partly cloudy and cool to warm, with scattered showers and thundershowers, but isolated in the south.
Bloemfontein: 8 — 21°C
Welkom: 10 — 23°C
Bethlehem: 8 — 22°C
Northern Cape: Fine and cool but partly cloudy in the north-east, with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh southerly to south-easterly.
Upington: 7 — 24°C
Kimberley: 7 — 22°C
De Aar: 4 — 19°C
Alexander Bay: 12 — 20°C
Springbok: 8 — 18°C
Calvinia: 3 — 15°C
Sutherland: 0 — 11°C
Western Cape: Fine over the eastern parts in the morning, otherwise partly cloudy to cloudy and cool to cold over the south-western and southern parts, with afternoon rain.
The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh north-westerly in the morning, otherwise westerly to south-westerly.
Cape Town: 12 — 17°C
Vredendal: 7 — 19°C
Riversdale: 10 — 20°C
George: 10 — 20°C
Worcester: 10 — 16°C
Beaufort West: 5 — 19°C
Oudtshoorn: 5 — 20°C
Western half of the Eastern Cape: Fine and cool, becoming cloudy with isolated showers along the south coast in the evening. The wind along the coast will be fresh to strong westerly.
Eastern half of the Eastern Cape: Fine and cool, but warm along the coast and adjacent interior, becoming partly cloudy with isolated thundershowers in the extreme east. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh north-easterly, becoming south-westerly in the late afternoon.
Gqeberha: 13 — 23°C
Makhanda: 8 — 22°C
Cradock: 4 — 24°C
Graaff-Reinet: 6 — 23°C
KuGompo: 12 — 24°C
Port St Johns: 13 — 25°C
Mthatha: 7 — 24°C
Komani: 4 — 22°C
Qonce: 9 — 24°C
KwaZulu-Natal: Partly cloudy and warm, but hot in the north-east, becoming cloudy in the afternoon with isolated showers and thundershowers, but scattered in the west. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh easterly to north-easterly.
Durban: 21 — 28°C
Richards Bay: 22 — 30°C
Pietermaritzburg: 15 — 30°C
Ladysmith: 13 — 30°C
*This weather report was written with the support of Toqan AI.
