Climate and average weather in Lephalale

In Lephalale, the summers are hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are warm and clear.

Best: mid April to early September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lephalale typically varies from 8°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 4°C or above 37°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Lephalale for warm-weather activities is from mid April to early September.

Hottest
Jan
31°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Jan
84 mm
Driest
Aug
1 mm
Rain / yr
374 mm
55 wet days
Daylight
10.5–13.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
824 m
23.7°S
Clearest
Jun
15% cloud

Lephalale is town in Limpopo, South Africa.

Founded
1960

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

Lephalale 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 mid April to early September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Lephalale, 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 14 to March 25, with daily high temperatures above 29°C. The hottest month of the year in Lephalale is January, with an average high of 31°C and low of 21°C.

The cool season lasts 2.1 months, from May 31 to August 2, with daily high temperatures below 24°C. The coldest month of the year in Lephalale is July, with an average low of 8°C and high of 23°C.

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

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3121
Feb3121
Mar3020
Apr2816
May2612
Jun238
Jul238
Aug2611
Sep3015
Oct3118
Nov3120
Dec3121

Average hourly temperature in Lephalale

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Lephalale 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
Jan31° / 21°8410.913.34.3
Feb31° / 21°597.612.84.6
Mar30° / 20°416.212.25.6
Apr28° / 16°213.311.57.6
May26° / 12°71.410.98.9
Jun23° / 40.810.69.3
Jul23° / 20.410.79.3
Aug26° / 11°10.411.29.1
Sep30° / 15°71.311.96.9
Oct31° / 18°233.712.65.3
Nov31° / 20°568.513.14.5
Dec31° / 21°7110.613.44.3

Chance of rain

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

Lephalale gets about 374 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 5.4 months, from around Oct 25 to Apr 5, peaking in January at about 36% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 22.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 84 mm over about 11 wet days; August is the driest, with 1 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 12 · 36%Jul 22 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3411
Feb278
Mar216
Apr113
May51
Jun31
Jul10
Aug10
Sep41
Oct124
Nov289
Dec3411

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lephalale collects about 374 mm of rain across 55 wet days — roughly 31 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 84 mm, while August is the driest at just 1 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 57% of the year’s total.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec8459412174217235671
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan8411
Feb598
Mar416
Apr213
May71
Jun41
Jul20
Aug10
Sep71
Oct234
Nov569
Dec7111

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lephalale, 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 14 and lasts for 6.0 months, ending around October 14. The clearest month is June, 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 15 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around April 13. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 43% 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 26 · 94%Dec 3 · 53%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6040
Feb6337
Mar7129
Apr7822
May9010
Jun937
Jul928
Aug928
Sep8812
Oct7723
Nov6139
Dec5743

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 December 16, brings about 13 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around June 16, only 10 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 3 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.35:396:58
Feb12.85:596:48
Mar12.26:146:24
Apr11.56:265:53
May10.96:395:31
Jun10.66:535:26
Jul10.76:555:35
Aug11.26:385:48
Sep11.96:075:59
Oct12.65:376:11
Nov13.15:196:29
Dec13.45:226:49

Sunny days

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

Lephalale averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 26 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.0 months, from around Apr 17 to Oct 15. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 25 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 11 sunny days — about 58% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 2326 daysDec 610 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb12Mixed
Mar16Bright
Apr18Bright
May25Brilliant
Jun25Brilliant
Jul26Brilliant
Aug26Brilliant
Sep24Brilliant
Oct19Bright
Nov13Mixed
Dec11Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.7 months, from around November 13 to April 4. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 63% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 5 to November 12, and May is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 18 · 100%Jan 24 · 33%muggyhumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan12254122
Feb11313920
Mar21383210
Apr563491
May94610
Jun99100
Jul100000
Aug100000
Sep96400
Oct762130
Nov4234204
Dec17333812

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 Lephalale is typically calm, near 10 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Aug 13 to Feb 14. The windiest month is October, averaging about 13 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Feb 15 to Aug 12, with May the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeOct 14 · 13 km/hMay 20 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr9calm
May8calm
Jun8calm
Jul9calm
Aug11calm
Sep12light breeze
Oct13light breeze
Nov12light breeze
Dec11calm

Best time to visit Lephalale

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late April, Lephalale 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 Lephalale for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid April to early September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 29 · 9.5

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
Jan4.3fair
Feb4.7fair
Mar5.6good
Apr7.6ideal
May8.9ideal
Jun9.3ideal
Jul9.3ideal
Aug9.1ideal
Sep6.9good
Oct5.3fair
Nov4.5fair
Dec4.4fair

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 Lephalale for hot-weather activities run from early March to mid June and again from late July to late October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 7 · 9.1

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 Lephalale, 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 31°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 23°C), pack light clothes and a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Lephalale sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 11 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lephalale 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 Lephalale peaks around January 14 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 16 at about 6 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighVery highExtremeJan 14UV 14Jun 16UV 6
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr9Very high
May6High
Jun5High
Jul6High
Aug8Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct10Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Lephalale

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
Mar86
Apr74.5
May5.51.5
Jun50
Jul5.52
Aug6.53.5
Sep74.5
Oct7.55.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec97

Air quality in Lephalale 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 Lephalale is worst in September — around 17 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.8× the cleanest month (December, 6 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1416 µg/m³Dec 196 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan7Good
Feb9Good
Mar10Good
Apr12Moderate
May16Moderate
Jun15Moderate
Jul16Moderate
Aug14Moderate
Sep17Moderate
Oct12Moderate
Nov8Good
Dec6Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lephalale is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
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. Lephalale banks about 4,418 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan506
Feb451
Mar457
Apr357
May264
Jun168
Jul164
Aug260
Sep372
Oct459
Nov466
Dec494

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.

Lephalale receives about 5.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.0 and 6.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.5 months, from around Aug 30 to Mar 16. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.1 kWh/m² — roughly 39% less than the October peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 276.8 kWhJun 234.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.5Intense
Feb6.2Intense
Mar5.6Bright
Apr4.9Bright
May4.5Bright
Jun4.0Bright
Jul4.3Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep6.1Intense
Oct6.7Intense
Nov6.6Intense
Dec6.6Intense

Where is Lephalale?

Lephalale sits at 23.7°S, 27.7°E, 824 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Marapong, 12 km away.

Topography around Lephalale

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lephalale has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 47 m around an average of 826 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 272 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 932 m.

The land around Lephalale is covered by shrubs (46%) and trees (27%) within 3 km, shrubs (65%) and trees (23%) within 16 km, and shrubs (79%) within 80 km.

3 km
47 m
16 km
272 m
80 km
932 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Marapong 12 km · Vaalwater 79 km · Thabazimbi 108 km · Mahalapye 114 km · Modimolle 133 km · Amandelbult 136 km · Mookgophong 137 km · Palapye 140 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 Lephalale (-23.6661°, 27.7448°, elevation 824 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).