A cold front will hit the Western Cape province from Wednesday evening and should continue moving over South Africa, while at the same time bringing rain, until Tuesday next week, South African Weather Service (Saws) said forecaster Evert Scholtz.
There should be heavy showers over parts of the Western and Eastern Cape up until Friday.
The front should result in scattered showers in the central Free State areas from Thursday and Friday as well as in the KwaZulu-Natal province, Scholtz said.
Rain is also forecast to fall over southern Gauteng and the Mpumalanga Highveld, where maize is grown, later in the week, he added.
The optimum time for South African farmers to plant the country’s maize crop is from about October 15 to December 15, while pollination of the crop takes place from about late January through to early March.
Almost 90% of the area devoted each year to maize in South Africa by farmers falls in the Mpumalanga, Free State and North-West provinces.
“On the weekend, there should be scattered rain in the eastern parts of South Africa. There is also likely to be rain going into next week as well,” he said.
“The rain that falls from Saturday through to Tuesday should be light rain,” he added.
Looking ahead, Scholtz said the Saws’ model pointed to below normal to normal rainfall across most of South Africa up until the end of December, 2004.
“There is a 40% chance of below normal rainfall, a 35% chance of normal rainfall and a 25% chance of above normal rainfall,” he added.
“Our advice to farmers is that they be prepared for a dry [summer crop] season, rather a wet season,” Scholtz said. – I-Net Bridge