A new temperature record was set over the weekend following the extreme heatwave that has battered the Northern and Western Capes in January.
Cape Town recorded temperatures of 42C on Saturday and a station in Robertson picked up a reading of 45.9C but the claims of a new record in Cape Town were dashed by the SA Weather Service.
They have confirmed that “locally induced heat” gave off values that were higher than the true temperature of the day.
“Due to certain environmental factors at these sites around the Automatic Weather Station (AWS) equipment, SAWS can confirm that these factors could have resulted in locally induced heat, which influenced the temperature readings of both stations. For this reason, these values will not be accepted into the SAWS Climate Database as new records. The highest ever recorded maximum temperature in January for Cape Town city therefore remains at 39.1C, while for all other months, the highest maximum temperature of 42.4C was measured on 3 March 2015.”
The Western Cape did have the distinction of being one of the hottest places on the planet over the weekend but a record was set in the Northern Cape after Alexander Bay recorded its highest “minimum temperature” at 22.8C.
Sources: MSN, SA People
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