Climate and average weather in Heilbron

In Heilbron, the summers are warm, wet, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild and clear.

Best: late March to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Heilbron typically varies from 3°C to 27°C, and is rarely below -1°C or above 32°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while June is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Heilbron for warm-weather activities is from late March to mid October.

Hottest
Jan
27°
Coldest
Jun
Wettest
Dec
139 mm
Driest
Jul
6 mm
Rain / yr
717 mm
96 wet days
Daylight
10.3–13.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,539 m
27.3°S
Clearest
Jul
13% cloud

Heilbron is town in the Free State, South Africa.

Founded
1872

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

Heilbron 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 March to mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 6.3 months, from September 15 to March 25, with daily high temperatures above 25°C. The hottest month of the year in Heilbron is January, with an average high of 27°C and low of 16°C.

The cool season lasts 2.2 months, from May 29 to August 3, with daily high temperatures below 19°C. The coldest month of the year in Heilbron is June, with an average low of 3°C and high of 18°C.

Days typically run about 13°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 15°C) in July.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2716
Feb2716
Mar2514
Apr2311
May217
Jun183
Jul183
Aug216
Sep2510
Oct2613
Nov2614
Dec2715

How hot and cold Heilbron 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 -0°C (around July 3), with roughly 30 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in July.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan27271616
Feb27271616
Mar25251414
Apr23231011
May212147
Jun181803
Jul181803
Aug212136
Sep2525910
Oct26261213
Nov26261414
Dec27271515

Average hourly temperature in Heilbron

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 27°C, and coldest before dawn in June, near C.

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

Heilbron 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
Jan27° / 16°1241513.55.9
Feb27° / 16°8712.6136.2
Mar25° / 14°8111.112.26.9
Apr23° / 11°436.911.47.7
May21° / 193.110.78.1
Jun18° / 101.710.37.8
Jul18° / 61.110.57.9
Aug21° / 152.4118.4
Sep25° / 10°203.211.88.6
Oct26° / 13°769.812.77.1
Nov26° / 14°9812.513.36.4
Dec27° / 15°13916.613.75.8

Chance of rain

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

Heilbron gets about 717 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 5.8 months, from around Oct 9 to Apr 3, peaking in December at about 53% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 11.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 139 mm over about 17 wet days; July is the driest, with 6 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 12 · 53%Jul 11 · 3%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4915
Feb4513
Mar3611
Apr237
May103
Jun62
Jul41
Aug82
Sep113
Oct3110
Nov4313
Dec5217

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Heilbron collects about 717 mm of rain across 96 wet days — roughly 60 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 139 mm, while July is the driest at just 6 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 50% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1248781431910615207698139
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan12415
Feb8713
Mar8111
Apr437
May193
Jun102
Jul61
Aug152
Sep203
Oct7610
Nov9813
Dec13917

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around April 19 and lasts for 5.6 months, ending around October 4. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 93% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 5 and lasts for 6.4 months, ending around April 18. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 39% 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 20 · 94%Nov 20 · 59%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6436
Feb6832
Mar7228
Apr7624
May8515
Jun919
Jul937
Aug8911
Sep8317
Oct7129
Nov6238
Dec6139

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 13 h 42 min of light; the shortest, around June 7, only 10 h 18 min — a swing of roughly 3 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.55:317:04
Feb13.05:546:52
Mar12.26:126:24
Apr11.46:285:49
May10.76:455:24
Jun10.37:005:17
Jul10.57:015:27
Aug11.06:415:43
Sep11.86:075:58
Oct12.75:336:13
Nov13.35:126:34
Dec13.75:136:56

Sunny days

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

Heilbron averages about 18 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 11 and 26 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Apr 19 to Sep 30. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 26 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 11 sunny days — about 56% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 2126 daysDec 2311 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb12Mixed
Mar15Mixed
Apr18Bright
May23Bright
Jun25Brilliant
Jul26Brilliant
Aug25Brilliant
Sep21Bright
Oct16Bright
Nov13Mixed
Dec12Mixed

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 Heilbron, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.2 months, from around December 11 to March 18. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 27% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around March 19 to December 10, and April is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 19 · 100%Jan 27 · 68%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan274627
Feb294625
Mar53398
Apr9270
May10000
Jun10000
Jul10000
Aug10000
Sep10000
Oct9280
Nov73252
Dec434710

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 Heilbron is typically calm, near 11 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.0 months, from around Aug 6 to Jan 5. The windiest month is September, averaging about 13 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jan 6 to Aug 5, with May the calmest month at about 10 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmlight breezeSep 25 · 13 km/hMay 14 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb11calm
Mar10calm
Apr10calm
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul10calm
Aug12calm
Sep13light breeze
Oct13light breeze
Nov13light breeze
Dec12calm

Hazard calendar for Heilbron

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Heilbron's rainy season runs October–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Heilbron

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early April, Heilbron is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 time of year to visit Heilbron for general outdoor tourist activities is from late March to mid October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 6 · 8.9

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
Jan5.9good
Feb6.2good
Mar6.9good
Apr7.7ideal
May8.1ideal
Jun7.9ideal
Jul7.9ideal
Aug8.4ideal
Sep8.6ideal
Oct7.2good
Nov6.3good
Dec5.8good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Heilbron for hot-weather activities run from early February to mid April and again from late August to late November, with a peak score in the third week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 17 · 7.6

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 Heilbron, 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 27°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around June (highs near 18°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Heilbron sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 16°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 15 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Heilbron 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 Heilbron peaks around January 14 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 at about 5 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighVery highExtremeJan 14UV 15Jun 20UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar11Extreme
Apr8Very high
May6High
Jun5Moderate
Jul5High
Aug7Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct10Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Heilbron

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
Mar85.5
Apr6.54
May5.51.5
Jun4.50
Jul50
Aug63
Sep74.5
Oct85.5
Nov8.56
Dec97

Air quality in Heilbron by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Heilbron is worst in July — around 103 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.4× the cleanest month (January, 24 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

0306090120JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorUnhealthyPoorModerateJul 11103 µg/m³Jan 1124 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan24Moderate
Feb32Moderate
Mar48Poor
Apr64Unhealthy
May88Unhealthy
Jun100Unhealthy
Jul103Unhealthy
Aug83Unhealthy
Sep65Unhealthy
Oct44Poor
Nov31Moderate
Dec25Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Heilbron is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about July 26 to June 9 (319 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeJul 2690%Jun 990%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May990
Jun8821
Jul8525
Aug970
Sep1000
Oct1000
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. Heilbron banks about 2,561 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan357
Feb314
Mar303
Apr206
May110
Jun16
Jul13
Aug101
Sep215
Oct283
Nov302
Dec342

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.

Heilbron receives about 5.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.8 and 7.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.4 months, from around Sep 3 to Mar 16. The brightest month is December, averaging about 7.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.8 kWh/m² — roughly 46% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 197.1 kWhJun 213.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.8Intense
Feb6.4Intense
Mar5.7Bright
Apr4.8Bright
May4.2Bright
Jun3.8Moderate
Jul4.1Bright
Aug4.9Bright
Sep6.0Intense
Oct6.6Intense
Nov7.0Intense
Dec7.1Intense

Where is Heilbron?

Heilbron sits at 27.3°S, 28.0°E, 1,539 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Koppies, 39 km away.

Topography around Heilbron

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Heilbron has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 83 m around an average of 1,555 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 268 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 455 m.

The land around Heilbron is covered by grassland (56%) and cropland (22%) within 3 km, grassland (51%) and cropland (47%) within 16 km, and grassland (56%) and cropland (40%) within 80 km.

3 km
83 m
16 km
268 m
80 km
455 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Koppies 39 km · Deneysville 45 km · Mamafubedu 46 km · Frankfort 52 km · Sasolburg 54 km · Vanderbijlpark 65 km · Parys 66 km · Vredefort 67 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 Heilbron (-27.2812°, 27.9709°, elevation 1,539 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. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).