SA Weather Service to probe KZN tornados
The South African Weather Service says it's investigating the strength, damage and impact of two tornados that struck KwaZulu-Natal this week.
Forecasters say the first twister that formed in Utrecht began as what's called a rope tornado before developing into a cone tornado.
They have explained that this type of windstorm gets its name from its shape.
It's narrower, stays close to the ground, and has a slightly wider cloud base.
A larger storm ploughed Tongaat and Ballito on Monday though.
READ: KZN communities hit by storms ‘in dire need of donations’
The weather service has classified it as a wedge tornado.
Senior forecaster Jan Vermeulen says they're usually larger and wider from the surface to the cloud base, and are often categorised as strong.
"They are uncommon, but you do get them, it depends on specific conditions, but they are rather scarce. The highest frequency of tornados in in November. There is a secondary peak of severe storms in March, but they can happen any time of the year depending on the specific weather conditions that can also happen at other times of the year."
ALSO READ: Call for aid for storm-affected KZN residents
In a statement, the SA Weather Service responded to queries regarding these kind of extreme weather phenomenons being associated with climate change.
It says a single weather event cannot be directly linked to climatic changes, but they agree that these type of weather systems may become more frequent in the future due to global warming.
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