Wednesday 4 November 2026 · Updated 14:14
SAWS warning

SAWS: Yellow Level 4 storm warning for Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga until Thursday night

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued a Yellow Level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms over Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, valid from 14:00 today, Wednesday 4 November, until 23:59 on Thursday 5 November. SAWS says the flooding risk in Gauteng is mainly on Thursday.

By Staff Reporter · Published

A lightning bolt striking over the lights of Johannesburg at night
File photo: lightning over Johannesburg (2010). Illustrative, not today's weather. Photo: Andy Mitchell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Storms that could bring damaging wind, hail and flooding are possible over Gauteng from this afternoon. The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued a Yellow Level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms over Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, valid from 14:00 today, Wednesday 4 November, until 23:59 on Thursday 5 November.1

SAWS says: “Damages to properties and settlements (formal and informal) due to wind and hail can be expected together with possible flooding over the central parts of Mpumalanga today and over most parts of Mpumalanga, Gauteng and extreme southern part of Limpopo tomorrow.”1 For Gauteng, that puts the main flooding risk on Thursday.

SAWS links the warning to “upper air wind perturbations associated with significantly high instability indices”, which it says “support the possibility for severe thunderstorm development”.1

Why it matters
  • What changed: SAWS posted the Yellow Level 4 warning at 13:00 today. It runs from 14:00 today to 23:59 on Thursday.
  • Who is affected: everyone in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, especially motorists, people living near rivers and low-lying areas, and anyone in informal settlements.
  • What you can do: stay off flooded roads and never cross swollen streams. In an emergency, call 112 from a mobile phone.

What SAWS says could happen

The warning lists these possible impacts:1

  • “Injuries and danger to life”
  • “Damage or loss of infrastructure, settlements (formal and informal), property, vehicles, livelihood and livestock”
  • “Travel disruptions (incl route obstructions) and incidents”
  • “Flooding of roads, settlements and low-lying areas, resulting in closure of some bridges and roads”
  • “Displacement of affected communities”
  • “Danger to life (fast flowing streams / deep water)”
  • “Large amounts of small hail over a populated area”

Level 4 sits in SAWS’s yellow band. On its impact-based warning matrix, it means a low likelihood of significant impacts.2 It is not the highest level, but SAWS issues it when storms could cause real damage.

The Vaal

The warning covers Gauteng as a whole and does not list individual towns or municipalities. SAWS’s warning map shades all of Gauteng yellow,1 so Emfuleni (Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark, Sebokeng) and Midvaal (Meyerton) fall inside the warned province. Sasolburg and the rest of Metsimaholo are in the Free State, which this warning does not cover.

SAWS’s Gauteng forecast for Thursday shows thundershowers over Vereeniging, with a low of 19°C, a high of 33°C and wind of about 30 km/h.3 Every Gauteng town on that forecast map, from Hammanskraal to Heidelberg, shows thundershowers on Thursday.3

SAWS’s national forecast for today and tomorrow expects “partly cloudy & warm conditions” over the central and eastern parts of the country, “with isolated to scattered thunderstorms possible from the afternoon”.4

Stay safe

SAWS advice for severe thunderstorms
  • “If possible stay indoors away from metal objects. Do not seek shelter under trees or tall objects.”5
  • “Avoid crossing flooded roads and swollen streams. Where rising water levels are observed, move to high grounds.”5
  • When outdoors during lightning, SAWS says to “immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes and other bodies of water” and “stay away from objects that conduct electricity (barbed wire fences, power lines, etc)”.5
  • “Be aware that any combination of hail, strong winds and/or heavy downpours can accompany the storms.”5

This advice comes from SAWS’s severe-thunderstorm warnings for Gauteng earlier this week.5

Voting today

Today is local government election day, and voting stations are open from 07:00 to 21:00.6 The warning starts at 14:00, so voters heading out this afternoon or evening should take an umbrella, keep an eye on the sky and avoid driving through water on the way to their voting station.

More: How SAWS warning levels work · All warnings · Vereeniging weather

Sources
  1. Yellow Level 4 warning: severe thunderstorms, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, valid 4 November 14:00 to 5 November 23:59 (warning graphic, posted 4 November, 13:00), South African Weather Service on X
  2. Impact-based warning matrix, South African Weather Service
  3. Gauteng weather tomorrow, Thursday 5 November 2026 (forecast map, posted 4 November, 12:31), South African Weather Service on X
  4. Weather forecast for today and tomorrow, 4–5 November 2026 (posted 4 November, 12:20), South African Weather Service on X
  5. Severe thunderstorm warnings for Gauteng, 2 and 3 November 2026 (CAP file, safety instructions), South African Weather Service
  6. 2026 Local Government Elections timetable, Electoral Commission of South Africa

Forecasts mentioned

Official source: https://x.com/SAWeatherServic/status/2117934952503267365

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