LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW

Joburg residents were enchanted when snowflakes started floating down from the sky recently 

- NOKUTHULA ZWANE-EJIKE

SNOW people, snowflakes, snowballs, and snow- angels – it’s the stuff Hollywood Christmas movies are made of and not something we typically see over here in South Africa even in the darkest and coldest parts of winter.

But Johannesburg residents were treated to a winter wonderland recently with images and videos coming thick and fast on social media. For many of the city’s younger residents it was a sheer delight because they’d never seen anything like this before.

The last time Joburg experienced snowfall was in August 2012 and before that in July 2007.

“It happens once every 10 to 20 years, but it’s not abnormal,” says Professor Francois Engelbrecht, director of the Global Change Institute and professor of climatology at Wits University.