March Weather in Upington South Africa

Daily high temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 93°F to 87°F, rarely falling below 78°F or exceeding 101°F.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 68°F to 62°F, rarely falling below 53°F or exceeding 75°F.

For reference, on January 17, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Upington typically range from 70°F to 96°F, while on July 11, the coldest day of the year, they range from 40°F to 69°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Alice Springs, Australia (6,695 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Upington (view comparison).

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The month of March in Upington experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 15% to 19%.

The clearest day of the month is March 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 85% of the time.

For reference, on October 20, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 25%, while on July 24, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 87%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Upington, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 14% and ending it at 11%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 16% on February 19, and its lowest chance is 0% on August 4.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during March in Upington is essentially constant, remaining about 1.0 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 2.7 inches or falling below 0.1 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 1.1 inches on March 10.

Over the course of March in Upington, the length of the day is decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 51 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 1 minute, 42 seconds, and weekly decrease of 11 minutes, 57 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is March 31, with 11 hours, 48 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 1, with 12 hours, 39 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month in Upington is 6:27 AM on March 1 and the latest sunrise is 17 minutes later at 6:44 AM on March 31.

The latest sunset is 7:06 PM on March 1 and the earliest sunset is 34 minutes earlier at 6:32 PM on March 31.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Upington during 2024.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:34 AM and sets 13 hours, 57 minutes later, at 7:32 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:26 AM and sets 10 hours, 20 minutes later, at 5:46 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for March 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Upington is gradually decreasing during March, falling from 5% to 1% over the course of the month.

For reference, on February 4, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 6% of the time, while on May 7, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Upington is essentially constant during March, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 8.3 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on October 21, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.2 miles per hour, while on March 7, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.2 miles per hour.

The lowest daily average wind speed during March is 8.2 miles per hour on March 7.

The wind direction in Upington during March is predominantly out of the south from March 1 to March 6 and the north from March 6 to March 31.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Upington typically lasts for 11 months (328 days), from around July 26 to around June 19, rarely starting after August 28, or ending before May 24.

The month of March in Upington is reliably fully within the growing season.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Upington are rapidly increasing during March, increasing by 781°F, from 5,144°F to 5,926°F, over the course of the month.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Upington is decreasing during March, falling by 1.3 kWh, from 7.3 kWh to 6.0 kWh, over the course of the month.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Upington are -28.448 deg latitude, 21.256 deg longitude, and 2,651 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Upington contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 184 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 2,643 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (755 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (1,936 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Upington is covered by artificial surfaces (40%), cropland (37%), and shrubs (23%), within 10 miles by shrubs (82%) and cropland (14%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (73%) and grassland (22%).