Winter Weather in Cape Town South Africa

Daily high temperatures are around 63°F, rarely falling below 57°F or exceeding 72°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 62°F on July 12.

Daily low temperatures are around 49°F, rarely falling below 41°F or exceeding 56°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 48°F on July 10.

For reference, on January 27, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Cape Town typically range from 63°F to 76°F, while on July 10, the coldest day of the year, they range from 48°F to 62°F.

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

Milton, Australia (6,744 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Cape Town (view comparison).

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The winter in Cape Town experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 43% to 38%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 32% on August 10.

The clearest day of the winter is August 10, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 68% of the time.

For reference, on May 18, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 44%, while on February 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 89%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Cape Town, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is decreasing, starting the season at 25% and ending it at 20%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 27% on June 14, and its lowest chance is 4% on February 13.

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 winter in Cape Town is decreasing, starting the season at 2.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.9 inches or falls below 0.9 inches, and ending the season at 1.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.4 inches or falls below 0.4 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.0 inches on June 24.

Over the course of the winter in Cape Town, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 21 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 53 seconds, and weekly increase of 6 minutes, 12 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is June 21, with 9 hours, 54 minutes of daylight and the longest day is August 31, with 11 hours, 23 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Cape Town is 7:52 AM on June 30 and the earliest sunrise is 47 minutes earlier at 7:05 AM on August 31.

The earliest sunset is 5:43 PM on June 11 and the latest sunset is 44 minutes later at 6:27 PM on August 31.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Cape Town during 2024.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:32 AM and sets 14 hours, 25 minutes later, at 7:57 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:51 AM and sets 9 hours, 54 minutes later, at 5:44 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 winter 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 in Cape Town is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on February 11, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 9% of the time, while on May 24, 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 Cape Town is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 11.1 miles per hour to 11.7 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on January 22, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.9 miles per hour, while on May 2, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.5 miles per hour.

The wind direction in Cape Town during the winter is predominantly out of the north from June 1 to August 9, the west from August 9 to August 27, and the south from August 27 to August 31.

Cape Town 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 in Cape Town is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 1°F of 60°F throughout.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 59°F on August 5.

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 in Cape Town 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 in Cape Town are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 3,901°F, from 4,273°F to 373°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 in Cape Town is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.6 kWh, from 2.6 kWh to 4.2 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 2.5 kWh on June 24.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Cape Town are -33.926 deg latitude, 18.423 deg longitude, and 82 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Cape Town contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 2,405 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 318 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (3,596 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (6,568 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Cape Town is covered by artificial surfaces (69%) and shrubs (20%), within 10 miles by water (46%) and artificial surfaces (39%), and within 50 miles by water (62%) and cropland (22%).