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UPDATE – all Western Cape schools are closed tomorrow (Wednesday) – full story HERE.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE – take a look at the madness in Sea Point, and along the Atlantic Seaboard, HERE.

Stern warnings about the “monster storm smashing” into Cape Town this week has everyone on their toes, but officials are worried that no one is taking the warnings seriously enough.

You see, during a 24-hour period, Times Live reports that Cape Town can expect “gale force winds of about 90km/h‚ 12 to 15-metre swells and 80mm of rain”.

90km/h? The average strongest south-easter reaches 45-75km/h.

This has left city officials and emergency personnel on high alert.

South African Weather Service communications manager Hannelee Doubell warned the average Joe:

Residents should make real preparations for the storm and not take it lightly. They should be prepared to stay inside their homes. Outside they should tie down their belongings because we are expecting abnormally strong winds.

The City of Cape Town is getting ready to assist with the evacuation of people in high-risk areas and Charlotte Powell‚ spokesperson for the Disaster Management Centre, also advised residents to remain indoors, fix leaking roofs and open paths to allow stormwater to flow through.

So what’s even going to happen? Let’s move onto the storm’s process best explained, of course, by Wavescape:

The naysayers had better buck up and listen because the models have not wavered in a week. In fact, they have upgraded. The rain is coming, and the wind, and the waves: big time.

The low pressure system behind the storm is holding steady, and is currently (10h00 Monday) situated 1200 nautical miles west of Cape Town and heading towards us at a speed of about 40 knots (about 75km/h). Winds freshen tomorrow, slowly building all afternoon.

However, the wind, waves, and rain arrive all at once, from midnight into Wednesday morning, each getting more and more severe. The first bits of rain set in from about 10pm Tuesday, with heavy rainsqualls blasted sideways by midnight. By 8am, this first wave of moisture is dumping a lot of rain across the SW Cape and has spread to the mountain catchment areas. Solid rain.

Did someone say something about rain? Well, there’s more:

The wind pumps all day Wednesday, but the worst of it looks set to come between 11am and 5pm, with gusts approaching hurricane-force (2 x galeforce), especially over the southern parts of the Peninsula. After initial heavy downpours, it rains on and off all day, including up in the mountains, but a second ‘wave’ of rain becomes even more severe in the late afternoon, and it’s bucketing down in the catchment area for 8-10 hours from late Wednesday into the early hours of Thursday. It should really make a difference to dam levels, but there will be widespread flooding.

I do hope you are ready.

If getting your camera gear is a part of your prep in an effort to catch some of the stormiest footage, here’s a little inspiration from the USA:

Chad Cowan wanted to document as many photogenic supercells as he could, in as high a resolution as possible, as to be able to share with those who couldn’t see first-hand the majestic beauty that comes alive in the skies above America’s Great Plains every Spring. After more than 100,000 miles on the road and tens of thousands of shutter clicks later, this is the result.

Enjoy this video below, and if you happen to do anything similar with our impending storm be sure to send it our way.

Oh boy.

Stay indoors, drink quality red wine (we recommend The Wolftrap) and ride it out, friends.

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IF YOU ARE IN CAPE TOWN CBD TODAY
Café du Cap is open! Serving warm homemade butternut soup!

[source:timeslive&wavescape&shockmansion]