The sun will set tonight on a year that has included much of interest in Dockland. As the cool of the evening envelopes the city, recently immersed in energy-sapping heat, I yearn for winter.
While the abundant rain this year has filled the dams and watered fields, orchards and vineyards, promising good harvests, winter storms also bring distress to many whose meagre structures are flooded or damaged, and provide little shelter from the elements.
From my kortbroek years to more recent times, I recall many years with frequent winter depressions passing the Cape, their associated gales, widespread rain and heavy seas. A synoptic chart of the sea area off South Africa showed nine depressions, some directly affecting weather at the Cape, but all impacting sea conditions along the entire coast.…
