View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

161
The conference papers are available from the Civil Protection Association of South Africa
(now known as the Emergency and Disaster Management Association of Southern
Africa)*, c/o the Chief Civil Protection Officer, Pietermaritzburg Municipality, P 0 Box
321, Pietermaritzburg, 3200; or the offices of Civil Protection at the larger municipalities
in South Africa; or the National Civil Protection Committee, Department of Local
Government and National Housing, Private Bag X644, Pretoria, 0001. (Note: The previous
emphasis was on civil defence rather than civil protection. The latest terminology refers
to disaster planning/management or risk reduction - see the chapter on rainfall, elsewhere
in this publication).
10.20.1 The severe weather watch service for South Africa* *
The Weather Bureau, Private Bag X097, Pretoria, 0001, operates a severe weather watch
service for South Africa. The service includes two forecasts, namely, 12 - 48 hour
forecasts or outlook forecasts (warning that severe weather may develop in a given
region), and two hour alerts (nowcasts). The former is a national forecast which is usually
issued by the Pretoria office of the Weather Bureau, and is released to the South African
Broadcasting Corporation for dissemination via radio and television. Outlook forecasts
consist of various categories such as special aircraftforecasts (airports); shipping forecasts
(gales, swells and fog); agricultural forecasts (excessive cold with special reference to the
Angora goat farmers of the eastern Cape, frost and black frost); forestry forecasts
(possibility of fires), and general public forecasts of heavy rain (including cyclone warnings
for Natal/KwaZulu and Swaziland). Other types of forecasts include notice of very high
heat discomfort index conditions (NatallKwaZulu in particular); severe thunderstorms
(especially in the southern Transvaal); flood warnings, and warnings of widespread cold
weather and/or snow.
Two hour alerts concern the identification of (developing) dangerous weather conditions
(for example, the "Black south-easter" of the Cape Province - more correctly termed a cut-
*
**
The head office address of the new Association is: P 0 Box 1703, Krugersdorp, 1740.
Discussion based on Laing, M., 1987. A severe weather watch service for South Africa, Second
National Conference of the Civil Defence Association of South Africa, 8 - 9 September 1987,
810emfontein, p. 29 - 33. (The United Nations has declared the 1990s as the International Decade
for Natural Disaster Reduction - IDNDR. Natural disasters of particular interest include the instability
of major metropolitan areas; landslides; volcanic activity; earthquakes; tropical cyclones, floods and
droughts).