South African Climate

South Africa, being a large country like the USA, has a wide range of climatic conditions; these can range from Mediterranean in the Western Cape to Subtropical in the Northeast. Consequently one is not able to summarize the country as a whole but rather by each province individually.

A relatively dry country with an average annual rainfall of about 464mm however rainfalls also vary depending on the coast. The Highveld has extremely large rainfalls, anything from 500 to 900 millimeters per year, whereby the region such as the Northwest only receives an annual rainfall of 200 millimeters. A large area of the center of the country receives on average an annual rainfall of about 400 millimeters.

Summer is from November to March and is generally hot with rainstorms often in the late afternoon except for the Western Cape. KwaZulu-Natal can be very humid in these months. The average temperatures range from 15 ºC to 35 ºC degrees, the hotter areas being inland and the lower temperatures falling close to the coastlines.

Autumn is from April to May. Overall the weather is warm but the days get shorter and the evenings get cooler. Winter is from June to August. The climate in winter is much cooler and drier than summer with snow falling in some mountain regions. The Western Cape being a Mediterranean climate receives most of its rain in winter. The average temperatures for winter range between 5 ºC to 25 ºC degrees. Some regions such as Bloemfontein even have low temperatures below zero whereby the regions close to the coast almost never reach such low degrees

Spring is from September to October. The climate is pleasant with October especially in the Cape being the month in which no one can predict what will happen. The weather can be sunny and fantastic in one week and cold and miserable in the next.

The climatic conditions vary greatly between the east and west coast, due to the warm Aghulus current on the east and the cold Benguela current on the west. The warm Aghulus current running through the Indian Ocean ensures the temperatures are on average 6º C warmer than the temperatures near to the Atlantic Ocean coast. The effect of these two currents can be seen at Cape Point in the Western Cape, where water temperatures average 4º C higher on the east side than on the west.