Cape Town's Green Season

Red Sky in morning Shepherd's warning.
Cape Town sky this week at about 7.30 am

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Are you a person who cannot handle the heat, large crowds, hotels that are full, and high prices.

Would you like a larger choice of luxury hotels at lower prices?

How would you like to visit tourist attractions and find that you are first in the queue.

Does this sound to good to be true?

I kid you not!

Cape Town is the place to visit in the green season.

Winters in the northern hemisphere are harsh with snow and temperatures below freezing.

Cape Town winters are exactly the opposite.

Yes it gets cold at night, sometimes below 10 degrees celsius when there is a winter storm with wind and rain lashing the peninsula.

Normally temperatures are mild between 10 and 15 degrees at night and a bit warmer during the day.

One can get out and about with a warmish jacket and do things.

Roads are never covered in ice and when there is a snowfall it happens on the high mountain peaks and even sometimes on Table Mountain.

Snow on Table Mountain is an exception not a rule.

Sometimes the winter season can be like a baby, wet and windy but of late we have had very mild winters where it warms up nicely in the day.

As it is winter in Cape Town not many people expect lovely mild weather so they tend to stay away.

That's the secret to my claims above.

Cape Town has plenty of hotels all willing to put you up and to do so they offer reduced prices during the winter months.




Tygerberg with its lovely green tinge
which just a few short weeks ago was brown.

What makes Cape Town winter's great is that everything turns green.

A few drops of rain and the wild flowers come to life and flowers such as the proteas bloom everywhere.

The summer with its heat is always accompanied by the Cape Doctor the south east wind which blows gales all summer long as it whips over False Bay and across the Cape Flats.

In the winter months the wind turns around and the north west wind lashes the peninsula when the weather is bad.

Cape Town however always warns you a day or two before the time of a coming storm.

Lions Head gets a halo of cloud around its head and when Capetonians see that they know its going to rain.

The weather normally produces a fantastic day or two of the most lovely summer weather, where there is not a breath of wind or cloud in the sky with high temperatures just before a big storm.

This week we had a morning with a red sky which means a couple of days of bad weather is on the way.

True to form we have had a northwest gale for two days with cold weather and the odd shower of rain.

The only thing that is really different from the summer season is that the beaches are deserted as the sun is not warm enough to tan in on most days.

The sea water is normally a bit rougher and a different colour to the lovely turquoise it normally is during summer.

For those who love board sailing and kite boarding, a bit of wind is the answer and that they get with the north wind blowing.

The beaches along the Table Bay coastline are full to capacity with kite surfers when the wind is up.

If you are not a beach person NOW is the time to visit Cape Town.

Hopefully I'll see you here soon.

Geoff Fairman

http://www.turtlesa.com

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