Believe it or not (Cape Town), but this winter in South Africa has been a lot warmer for some parts of the country than usual, particularly Johannesburg and Pretoria.

According to data from the South African Weather Service published on Monday, the likes of Pretoria and Johannesburg were “2-3°C” warmer than the long-term average.

This includes warmer average minimums, and warmer maximum averages.

#Winter of 2019 is WARMER than the Long Term Average in most parts of SA. Pretoria and Johannesburg was 2-3C warmer than Average. This week looks like another warm one for #Gauteng with Pretoria going up to 28C. Information for more towns will be given soon. pic.twitter.com/C2UM8cIRFr — SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) August 5, 2019

Of course, you’re probably wondering how this is possible considering all the snow that fell across the country just recently, and the series of strong cold fronts experienced by the Western Cape, Northern Cape, and Eastern Cape recently.

In its seasonal forecast published earlier this year, SAWS also noted that the Western Cape would see a more mild winter, with more days averaging less than 5mm of precipitation. It also noted that fewer days of heavier rain should be expected in winter.

According to info in the same forecast, SAWS believes that there’s a high change South Africa will see warmer than usual maximum temperatures for the rest of the year, especially in the extreme northern portions of the country.

Feature image: Central Johannesburg looking east in 2005, by Chris Eason via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)