There’s no business like snow business for SA’s snowman

COLD COMFORT: Snow-ReportSA’s forecasts are usually spot-on

IT would be apt to dub Rob Ansell the “snowman” of South Africa.

The 42-year-old Hillcrest, Durban, web designer has been “actively seeking” snow since he was 10 years old.

Now some 32 years later he runs SnowReportSA, the website that provides more than one million South Africans – from farmers to snow-boarders – with accurate predictions and sightings throughout the country.

“When the website started getting its first hits I realised that I was not the only crazy person out there,” Ansell said.

He was spot-on with his forecast of South Africa’s first snowfall over parts of Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal two weeks ago. He is confident of his predictions. “We are very accurate . . . In the early days, it was very difficult and we made a few mistakes.”

But five years after giving birth to SnowReport, Ansell has almost mastered the art of forecasting snow.

“[After] five years of interpreting the charts and getting to know the landscape of snow zones, our predictions are getting better and better,” he said.

“The further away we forecast, the more variance there can be in predictions.

“But we have about 90% accuracy within 48 hours of the snow event.

“But at the end of the day, snow is a weather phenomenon. No forecast can ever be 100% accurate.”

The South African Weather Service office said while no snow was predicted for this week, the same low-pressure system that brought heavy rains to Durban this week was expected to hit the Northern Cape, Free State and North West province tomorrow.

“There will be a drop in temperature,” forecaster Madinetja Thema said.