{A powerful hailstorm struck a suburb of Johannesburg Saturday, leading to the collapse of a shopping center roof. The images from the storm show hail covering the ground like a thick coating of snow, an unusual sight during what is now summer in South Africa. }

The Key West Shopping center in Krugersdorp was evacuated after its roof collapsed around 4 p.m. local time, Krugersdorp News reported. Ambulances arrived at the scene but there was only one reported injury. The news site reported that this is already considered to be one of the biggest hail storms in Krugersdorp in years.

“The Johannesburg area has been in the grips of extremely hot and dry air this week, establishing new all-time record high temperatures,” weather.com senior digital meteorologist Nick Wiltgen said. “It appears that some cooler and more humid air started to push in from the south and east on Saturday, likely triggering these thunderstorms. Weather balloon data from Pretoria a few hours before the hailstorm showed an obvious intrusion of cold dry air in the upper atmosphere, a factor that strongly favors damaging hail when overall conditions are favorable for thunderstorm development.”

The South African Weather Service issued a number of severe thunderstorm watches and warnings in the northeastern portion of the country Saturday afternoon and evening, including Johannesburg and the nearby national capital, Pretoria.

Wiltgen said Johannesburg established a new all-time record high of 100.9 degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 degrees Celsius) Wednesday, only to break it again Thursday with a high of 102.0 F (38.9 C). The previous record of 97.7 F (36.5 C) had just been set Nov. 11, 2015.

Pretoria has broken or tied its all-time record high temperature, previously set in 1960, five times this spring and summer. The city broke it on Nov. 10 and 11, hitting 104.5 F (40.3 C) on the latter; broke it again Dec. 7, hitting 105.8 F (41.0 C); tied that record this past Wednesday, Jan. 6; then crushed the record Thursday with a high of 108.9 F (42.7 C).

Extreme heat is also taking its toll in the western portion of the country, with numerous fire danger warnings and two deaths from heatstroke reported Saturday. According to SABC News, a total of 11 people have died from heat stroke in the region in just the past few days.

It’s been a record-breaking spring and summer in South Africa so far. In October, the town of Vredendal broke the all-time world record high for the month of October, hitting 119.1 F (48.4 C). Earlier this week, Augrabies Falls National Park reached a scorching 119.5 F (48.6 C).

Source:Weather:[Massive Hailstorm Pummels South Africa; Shopping Mall Roof Collapses->http://www.weather.com/news/weather/news/massive-hailstorm-south-africa-roof-collapse]