#southeaster

Unseasonable weather continues; nearly every day for a week, we have had the “South-easter” blowing, moderately in the morning, increasing to a full gale each afternoon, and often lasting well into the night. Trying to walk even a short distance in it is problematic; the gusts will actually snatch your foot as you take a step and cross it behind your other ankle; spectacles blow off your face -- in fact while holding mine on, my clip-on sunglasses were repeatedly blown off my spectacles ... all while struggling to walk in a straight line, to walk at all upwind, and not to be forced into a run while heading downwind. Apparently it’s not supposed to be like this in summer. The weather forecast usually predicts “a moderate breeze” for Cape Town; I’ve no idea where they are measuring that. It may, however, explain why we are so little troubled with mosquitos so far. Any that are bold enough to get airborne will immediately be snatched out into Table Bay at around fifty kilometres an hour.

Prevailing wind

Last Friday, I did a braai for our upstairs neighbours. (Don’t worry, this is not a confession to accidental arson.) The famous ‘south-easter’ wind was getting up, which made it tricky; hot embers were actually blowing out of a closed  ‘kettle’ BBQ in the worst gusts. Nothing flammable was nearby, and no damage was done. However, the following night, with the wind still as strong as ever, alerts were popping up on Angie’s phone about a brush fire a short distance from us -- in Deer Park -- and were we safe? We went up to the top landing of our apartments and looked out; quite a broad swathe of the vegetation just above the highest houses was glowing with fires, which were well out of control, being fanned by a furious gale. Apparently a few homes were evacuated as a precaution; from a distance, we didn’t spot any evidence of drastic damage the following morning, but the brush was still smouldering in places. The fire brigade’s red flashing lights were still in evidence 36 hours later. Angie’s first thoughts were for the homeless (’bergies’) who live amongst the bushes in Deer Park and elsewhere. I conjectured that the fire could have been one of them trying to keep warm in the gale, and lighting a fire that got away from him. I was mildly rebuked; apparently, speculation on social media that it could have been started deliberately, turned to “fact” within minutes ... And just a couple of days later, a friend recounted seeing a driver, on the highway next to the national-park boundary, throw a cigarette into the dry grass on the verge -- despite all the posted warnings.

This was the name Batholomeu Dias originally gave to this promontory, and it is currently living up to it. For a third day we have strong gales -- peaking last night, according to the forecast, at an average 57 mph (just under 100 kph, and probably peaking at 150 kph). This is the notorious South-Easter. It has been strong enough to make small cars skitter about on the highways, and walking against it very difficult (especially breathing through a fabric mask!) A rose bush in our fairly sheltered garden had five blooms on it three days ago -- yesterday it had none; today I saw at least one mature tree uprooted. You can hear the next gust coming in the trees on Devil’s Peak; like an aircraft coming into land, the roaring grows and grows until it hits the spot where you are. Apparently (I am assured) this is unusual weather for this time of year; but I remember days like this when we first visited Cape Town in late 2018, and wondering whether we were about to lose the roof. We have also had more rain than usual, at least in recent years; the dams are close to 99% full, and we may actually see the once-a-lifetime event of water pouring over the tops before long. All told, it’s not surprising that Dias never managed to land in Table Bay, or anywhere else this side of Mossel Bay.

It's windy, it's early. Crisp blue promenade morning walk #promenadewalk #southeaster #fresh #crispblue #capetown (at Saunders Rocky Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5161nCpfLG/?igshid=19vtamnobih2i

So on set with some big boy toys, had a blast in the wind yesterday the #southeaster gave us a run but we managed to pull the day off. #whataday. . . . . . . . #onset #shortfilm #mōvipro #topmount #vehicaltracking #lovemyjob #mymotioncamera #smelfie #mōvimethod #tiltoffsets #panavision #anamorphiclenses (at Macassar, Western Cape, South Africa) https://www.instagram.com/p/BogCnECFMYA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=12b26t5oaio2i

Evidence of the wind storm. #Leica365 #Leica #M9 #Stellenbosch #SouthEaster (at Faculty of Theology)