SABIE RIVER: Climate

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Map of the SABIE River

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TEMPERATURE
Summer temperatures are high.
    RAINFALL                                    
"Mean annual rainfall in the catchment varies between 2 000 mm on the Escarpment to around 600 mm in the Lowveld. Most of this falls between November and March, in the form of tropical storms. Summer maximum temperatures are high and evaporation averages at 1 700 mm per year in the Lowveld region." (www.csir.co.za/rhp/state_of_rivers/state_of_crocsabieolif_01/sabie_eco.html)
Frontal rainfall is highest in the highland areas (2000 mm/a), and declines rapidly towards the border between South Africa and Mozambique (450 mm/a). This rainfall is concentrated in the summer months, from November to March. Cyclonic activity is also occasionally recorded within the catchment. Evaporation varies from 1700 mm in the east, to 1400 mm in the west, with summer values higher than winter values in the Lowveld (Heritage et al., 2001). (Ref 2)
  References                                      

Ref 2:  WATER RESEARCH COMMISSION (WRC), (2001). State of the Rivers Report - Crocodile, Sabie-Sand & Olifants River System. WRC Report No. TT 147/01: 39pp.
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