Climate and average weather in Burgersdorp

In Burgersdorp, the summers are hot, showery, and mostly clear and the winters are mild and clear.

Best: late July to early December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Burgersdorp typically varies from 1°C to 30°C, and is rarely below -4°C or above 35°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while June is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Burgersdorp for warm-weather activities are from early March to early June and late July to early December.

Hottest
Jan
30°
Coldest
Jun
Wettest
Jan
84 mm
Driest
Jul
13 mm
Rain / yr
525 mm
74 wet days
Daylight
10.0–14.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,405 m
31.0°S
Clearest
Jul
21% cloud

Burgersdorp is town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Founded
1846

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Burgersdorp weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late July to early December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Burgersdorp, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.6 months, from October 30 to March 18, with daily high temperatures above 26°C. The hottest month of the year in Burgersdorp is January, with an average high of 30°C and low of 15°C.

The cool season lasts 2.8 months, from May 24 to August 16, with daily high temperatures below 18°C. The coldest month of the year in Burgersdorp is June, with an average low of 1°C and high of 16°C.

Days typically run about 15°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3015
Feb2915
Mar2613
Apr229
May195
Jun161
Jul161
Aug183
Sep227
Oct259
Nov2711
Dec2913

How hot and cold Burgersdorp really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -3°C (around June 30), with roughly 82 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in June.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan29301515
Feb29291515
Mar26261313
Apr222279
May191925
Jun1616-21
Jul1616-31
Aug181803
Sep222247
Oct252589
Nov27271111
Dec29291313

Average hourly temperature in Burgersdorp

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on January afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in June, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Burgersdorp weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan30° / 15°8410.413.85.5
Feb29° / 15°801113.15.8
Mar26° / 13°679.312.27.1
Apr22° / 446.811.37.6
May19° / 203.610.57.5
Jun16° / 163106.2
Jul16° / 132.210.26.3
Aug18° / 18310.97.5
Sep22° / 21311.88.3
Oct25° / 416.412.87.8
Nov27° / 11°567.313.67.3
Dec29° / 13°658.3146.1

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Burgersdorp gets about 525 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.3 months, from around Oct 14 to Apr 23, peaking in February at about 41% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 6.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 84 mm over about 10 wet days; July is the driest, with 13 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 16 · 41%Jul 6 · 6%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3310
Feb3911
Mar309
Apr237
May124
Jun103
Jul82
Aug93
Sep113
Oct206
Nov247
Dec278

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Burgersdorp collects about 525 mm of rain across 74 wet days — roughly 44 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 84 mm, while July is the driest at just 13 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec848067442016131821415665
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan8410
Feb8011
Mar679
Apr447
May204
Jun163
Jul132
Aug183
Sep213
Oct416
Nov567
Dec658

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Burgersdorp, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 24 and lasts for 3.6 months, ending around September 10. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 86% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 11 and lasts for 3.1 months, ending around December 13. The cloudiest month is October, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 27% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 10 · 88%Oct 9 · 73%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7822
Feb7921
Mar7921
Apr7426
May7723
Jun8317
Jul8614
Aug8317
Sep7723
Oct7327
Nov7525
Dec7921

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around January 1, brings about 14 hours of light; the shortest, around June 9, only 10 hours — a swing of roughly 4 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.85:307:18
Feb13.15:567:03
Mar12.26:176:31
Apr11.36:385:52
May10.56:585:24
Jun10.07:155:15
Jul10.27:155:25
Aug10.96:535:45
Sep11.86:156:03
Oct12.85:376:23
Nov13.65:126:48
Dec14.05:117:11

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Burgersdorp averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 16 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.6 months, from around Apr 30 to Sep 16. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 23 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is March, down near 17 sunny days — about 26% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 823 daysMar 3116 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan17Bright
Feb15Bright
Mar17Bright
Apr17Bright
May20Bright
Jun21Bright
Jul23Brilliant
Aug23Bright
Sep19Bright
Oct17Bright
Nov17Bright
Dec18Bright

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Burgersdorp, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in February, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 6% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan74215
Feb65296
Mar83171
Apr9820
May10000
Jun10000
Jul10000
Aug10000
Sep10000
Oct10000
Nov9730
Dec9081

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Burgersdorp is typically light breeze, near 13 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.6 months, from around Aug 10 to Jan 27. The windiest month is November, averaging about 15 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jan 28 to Aug 9, with May the calmest month at about 11 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeNov 24 · 15 km/hMay 8 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan13light breeze
Feb12calm
Mar11calm
Apr11calm
May11calm
Jun12calm
Jul12calm
Aug13light breeze
Sep14light breeze
Oct14light breeze
Nov15light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Best time to visit Burgersdorp

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Burgersdorp throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late November, Burgersdorp is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Burgersdorp for general outdoor tourist activities run from early March to early June and again from late July to early December, with a peak score in the last week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 26 · 8.3

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan5.5fair
Feb5.8good
Mar7.1good
Apr7.6ideal
May7.4good
Jun6.2good
Jul6.3good
Aug7.5good
Sep8.3ideal
Oct7.8ideal
Nov7.2good
Dec6.1good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Burgersdorp for hot-weather activities is from mid September to early April, with a peak score in the third week of December.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 15 · 7.7

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Burgersdorp, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around January (highs near 30°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around June (highs near 16°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Burgersdorp sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 15°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 10 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Burgersdorp by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Burgersdorp peaks around January 14 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 22 at about 4 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 14UV 15Jun 22UV 4
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar11Extreme
Apr7Very high
May5High
Jun4Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug6High
Sep8Very high
Oct11Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Burgersdorp

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan97
Feb8.56.5
Mar7.55.5
Apr6.53
May50
Jun3.50
Jul3.50
Aug5.50.5
Sep6.53.5
Oct86
Nov96.5
Dec97
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Burgersdorp is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about September 1 to May 22 (264 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeSep 190%May 2290%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr990
May939
Jun6630
Jul6031
Aug7931
Sep950
Oct990
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Burgersdorp banks about 2,223 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan375
Feb324
Mar296
Apr166
May59
Jun0
Jul0
Aug25
Sep134
Oct224
Nov272
Dec347

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Burgersdorp receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.3 and 8.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Sep 13 to Mar 18. The brightest month is December, averaging about 8.0 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.4 kWh/m² — roughly 58% less than the December peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 188.1 kWhJun 183.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.6Intense
Feb6.9Intense
Mar5.9Bright
Apr4.7Bright
May3.8Moderate
Jun3.3Moderate
Jul3.6Moderate
Aug4.5Bright
Sep5.8Bright
Oct6.9Intense
Nov7.7Intense
Dec8.1Intense

Where is Burgersdorp?

Burgersdorp sits at 31.0°S, 26.3°E, 1,405 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Aliwal North, 50 km away.

Topography around Burgersdorp

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Burgersdorp.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Burgersdorp has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 216 m around an average of 1,448 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 555 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,001 m.

The land around Burgersdorp is covered by grassland (66%) and shrubs (21%) within 3 km, grassland (83%) within 16 km, and grassland (89%) within 80 km.

3 km
216 m
16 km
555 m
80 km
1,001 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Aliwal North 50 km · Zastron 106 km · Queenstown 113 km · Queensdale 115 km · Lady Frere 116 km · Middelburg 137 km · Whittlesea 139 km · Cala 142 km

South Africa travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / M / N
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 41% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$6,598
2025
Happiness
5.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
68%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
43.7
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
22.2
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Very high
EF EPI 602
Religion
Christian 86%or other traditional African religions 5%nothing in particular 5%Muslim 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Burgersdorp (-30.9977°, 26.3286°, elevation 1,405 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).