Climate and average weather in Makwassie

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

Best: early April to early October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Makwassie typically varies from 4°C to 30°C, and is rarely below -1°C or above 34°C. December is the hottest month of the year, while June is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Dec
30°
Coldest
Jun
Wettest
Jan
103 mm
Driest
Jul
4 mm
Rain / yr
551 mm
88 wet days
Daylight
10.3–13.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,315 m
27.3°S
Clearest
Jul
12% cloud

Makwassie is town in the North West, South Africa.

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

Makwassie 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 early April to early October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 5.7 months, from September 29 to March 19, with daily high temperatures above 27°C. The hottest month of the year in Makwassie is December, with an average high of 30°C and low of 17°C.

The cool season lasts 2.4 months, from May 27 to August 6, with daily high temperatures below 21°C. The coldest month of the year in Makwassie is June, with an average low of 4°C and high of 19°C.

Days typically run about 14°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 16°C) in July.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3018
Feb2918
Mar2716
Apr2512
May228
Jun194
Jul194
Aug227
Sep2611
Oct2814
Nov2916
Dec3017

Average hourly temperature in Makwassie

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 December 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

Makwassie 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° / 18°10314.213.54.9
Feb29° / 18°7912.8135.3
Mar27° / 16°6911.712.26.4
Apr25° / 12°427.211.47.8
May22° / 182.910.78.5
Jun19° / 101.410.38.2
Jul19° / 40.710.58.4
Aug22° / 121.7118.9
Sep26° / 11°152.711.88.5
Oct28° / 14°48812.76.8
Nov29° / 16°6510.513.35.6
Dec30° / 17°8713.913.74.9

Chance of rain

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

Makwassie gets about 551 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 6.1 months, from around Oct 14 to Apr 17, peaking in January at about 49% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 16.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 103 mm over about 14 wet days; July is the driest, with 4 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 24 · 49%Jul 16 · 2%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4614
Feb4513
Mar3812
Apr247
May93
Jun51
Jul31
Aug52
Sep103
Oct258
Nov3611
Dec4414

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Makwassie collects about 551 mm of rain across 88 wet days — roughly 46 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 103 mm, while July is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 49% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec103796942181041215486587
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan10314
Feb7913
Mar6912
Apr427
May183
Jun101
Jul41
Aug122
Sep153
Oct488
Nov6511
Dec8714

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around April 21 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around October 9. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 94% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 10 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around April 20. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 29% 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 · 95%Dec 1 · 70%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7228
Feb7327
Mar7525
Apr7921
May8713
Jun919
Jul946
Aug928
Sep8812
Oct7921
Nov7129
Dec7129

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)
Jan13.55:397:12
Feb13.06:027:00
Mar12.26:206:32
Apr11.46:365:57
May10.76:535:32
Jun10.37:085:25
Jul10.57:095:35
Aug11.06:495:51
Sep11.86:156:06
Oct12.75:416:21
Nov13.35:206:42
Dec13.75:217:04

Sunny days

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

Makwassie averages about 20 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 14 and 27 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.6 months, from around Apr 19 to Oct 5. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 26 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 14 sunny days — about 48% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1927 daysDec 814 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan14Mixed
Feb13Mixed
Mar16Bright
Apr19Bright
May24Brilliant
Jun25Brilliant
Jul27Brilliant
Aug26Brilliant
Sep22Bright
Oct18Bright
Nov15Bright
Dec14Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.4 months, from around December 15 to March 28. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 30% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around March 29 to December 14, and September 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 19 · 100%Jan 24 · 65%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan3536281
Feb2741321
Mar4739140
Apr841410
May100000
Jun100000
Jul100000
Aug100000
Sep100000
Oct92800
Nov771940
Dec5336100

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

The windier part of the year lasts 5.3 months, from around Jul 30 to Jan 7. The windiest month is November, averaging about 13 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jan 8 to Jul 29, with March the calmest month at about 10 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmlight breezeNov 15 · 13 km/hMar 1 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr10calm
May10calm
Jun11calm
Jul11calm
Aug12light breeze
Sep13light breeze
Oct13light breeze
Nov13light breeze
Dec12light breeze

Hazard calendar for Makwassie

In seasonPeak

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

Makwassie'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 Makwassie

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid April, Makwassie 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 Makwassie for general outdoor tourist activities is from early April to early October, with a peak score in the last week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 29 · 9.1

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
Jan4.9fair
Feb5.3fair
Mar6.4good
Apr7.7ideal
May8.5ideal
Jun8.2ideal
Jul8.4ideal
Aug8.9ideal
Sep8.5ideal
Oct6.8good
Nov5.6good
Dec4.9fair

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 Makwassie for hot-weather activities run from early February to early May and again from late August to late December, with a peak score in the third week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 16 · 8.1

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 Makwassie, 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 December (highs near 30°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around June (highs near 19°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In December, Makwassie sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 17°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 14 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Makwassie 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 Makwassie peaks around January 13 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 at about 5 (moderate).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighHighVery highExtremeJan 13UV 15Jun 20UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr8Very high
May6High
Jun5Moderate
Jul5High
Aug7Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct10Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Makwassie

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
Apr6.54
May5.51.5
Jun4.50
Jul50
Aug63
Sep74.5
Oct85.5
Nov96.5
Dec97

Air quality in Makwassie 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 Makwassie is worst in September — around 21 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.4× the cleanest month (December, 6 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 1121 µg/m³Dec 106 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb11Good
Mar12Moderate
Apr14Moderate
May17Moderate
Jun20Moderate
Jul20Moderate
Aug20Moderate
Sep21Moderate
Oct12Good
Nov6Good
Dec6Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Makwassie 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 10 (320 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeJul 2690%Jun 1090%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May990
Jun8919
Jul8726
Aug950
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. Makwassie banks about 3,143 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan426
Feb368
Mar358
Apr248
May147
Jun46
Jul44
Aug132
Sep253
Oct338
Nov367
Dec416

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.

Makwassie receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.8 and 7.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 5 to Mar 16. The brightest month is December, averaging about 7.5 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.8 kWh/m² — roughly 48% less than the December peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 187.5 kWhJun 193.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.2Intense
Feb6.6Intense
Mar5.8Bright
Apr4.9Bright
May4.3Bright
Jun3.8Moderate
Jul4.1Bright
Aug5.0Bright
Sep6.2Intense
Oct6.9Intense
Nov7.3Intense
Dec7.4Intense

Where is Makwassie?

Makwassie sits at 27.3°S, 26.0°E, 1,315 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Wolmaransstad, 13 km away.

Topography around Makwassie

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Makwassie has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 48 m around an average of 1,314 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 240 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 434 m.

The land around Makwassie is covered by grassland (75%) within 3 km, grassland (71%) within 16 km, and grassland (50%) and cropland (43%) within 80 km.

3 km
48 m
16 km
240 m
80 km
434 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Wolmaransstad 13 km · Leeudoringstad 25 km · Bloemhof 53 km · Ottosdal 56 km · Hoopstad 58 km · Bothaville 62 km · Schweizer-Reneke 67 km · Wesselsbron 70 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 Makwassie (-27.3156°, 25.995°, elevation 1,315 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).