Summer Weather at Richard Bay Airport South Africa

Daily high temperatures are around 81°F, rarely falling below 73°F or exceeding 89°F. The highest daily average high temperature is 83°F on January 4.

Daily low temperatures are around 70°F, rarely falling below 65°F or exceeding 74°F. The highest daily average low temperature is 72°F on February 14.

For reference, on January 1, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Richard Bay Airport typically range from 71°F to 83°F, while on July 3, the coldest day of the year, they range from 58°F to 73°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average summer temperatures. 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.

Paranaguá, Brazil (4,867 miles away) and Pouébo, New Caledonia (7,801 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Richard Bay Airport (view comparison).

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The summer at Richard Bay Airport experiences rapidly decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 38% to 22%.

The clearest day of the summer is February 25, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 78% of the time.

For reference, on November 13, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 40%, while on July 23, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 88%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Richard Bay Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of the summer is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 37% and ending it at 31%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 39% on November 24, and its lowest chance is 7% on August 12.

Rainfall

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

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the summer at Richard Bay Airport is essentially constant, remaining about 3.0 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 6.7 inches or falling below 0.9 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.3 inches on February 5.

Over the course of the summer at Richard Bay Airport, the length of the day is rapidly decreasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day decreases by 1 hour, 9 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 46 seconds, and weekly decrease of 5 minutes, 23 seconds.

The shortest day of the summer is February 28, with 12 hours, 42 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 21, with 13 hours, 59 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the summer at Richard Bay Airport is 4:45 AM on December 2 and the latest sunrise is 57 minutes later at 5:42 AM on February 28.

The latest sunset is 6:54 PM on January 9 and the earliest sunset is 29 minutes earlier at 6:24 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is not observed at Richard Bay Airport during 2024.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:50 AM and sets 13 hours, 59 minutes later, at 6:49 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:44 AM and sets 10 hours, 19 minutes later, at 5:02 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 the summer of 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 at Richard Bay Airport is very rapidly increasing during the summer, rising from 50% to 80% over the course of the season.

The highest chance of a muggy day during the summer is 82% on February 15.

For reference, on February 15, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 82% of the time, while on August 3, 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 at Richard Bay Airport is rapidly decreasing during the summer, decreasing from 13.8 miles per hour to 11.7 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on October 2, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 14.9 miles per hour, while on May 9, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.5 miles per hour.

The wind direction at Richard Bay Airport during the summer is predominantly out of the south from December 1 to December 6 and from January 11 to February 28 and the north from December 6 to January 11.

Richard Bay Airport is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature at Richard Bay Airport is increasing during the summer, rising by 4°F, from 75°F to 80°F, over the course of the season.

The highest average surface water temperature during the summer is 80°F on February 19.

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).

Temperatures at Richard Bay Airport are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year.

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 at Richard Bay Airport are very rapidly increasing during the summer, increasing by 2,329°F, from 2,812°F to 5,141°F, over the course of the season.

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 at Richard Bay Airport is gradually decreasing during the summer, falling by 0.6 kWh, from 7.0 kWh to 6.5 kWh, over the course of the season.

The highest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the summer is 7.4 kWh on January 1.