Climate and average weather in Mooi River

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

Best: mid March to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Mooi River typically varies from 4°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 0°C or above 31°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 Mooi River for warm-weather activities is from mid March to mid October.

Hottest
Jan
26°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Jan
137 mm
Driest
Jun
15 mm
Rain / yr
818 mm
126 wet days
Daylight
10.1–13.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,403 m
29.2°S
Clearest
Jul
20% cloud

Mooi River is town in South Africa.

Founded
1852

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

Mooi River 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 March to mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.9 months, from November 1 to March 29, with daily high temperatures above 24°C. The hottest month of the year in Mooi River is January, with an average high of 26°C and low of 15°C.

The cool season lasts 2.3 months, from May 30 to August 7, with daily high temperatures below 19°C. The coldest month of the year in Mooi River is July, with an average low of 4°C and high of 18°C.

Days typically run about 12°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in July.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2615
Feb2615
Mar2514
Apr2211
May208
Jun184
Jul184
Aug207
Sep239
Oct2311
Nov2413
Dec2514

Average hourly temperature in Mooi River

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 26°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Mooi River 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
Jan26° / 15°13718.213.75.4
Feb26° / 15°11715.2135.7
Mar25° / 14°941412.26.4
Apr22° / 11°528.311.37.1
May20° / 203.710.67.8
Jun18° / 152.510.27.6
Jul18° / 182.510.37.6
Aug20° / 244.4117.7
Sep23° / 336.811.87.5
Oct23° / 11°7713.812.76.3
Nov24° / 13°1081713.55.7
Dec25° / 14°12419.913.85.3

Chance of rain

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

Mooi River gets about 818 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.1 months, from around Oct 2 to Apr 4, peaking in December at about 65% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 30.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 137 mm over about 18 wet days; June is the driest, with 15 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 8 · 65%Jun 30 · 7%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5918
Feb5515
Mar4414
Apr288
May124
Jun83
Jul93
Aug144
Sep247
Oct4414
Nov5717
Dec6320

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Mooi River collects about 818 mm of rain across 126 wet days — roughly 68 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 137 mm, while June is the driest at just 15 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 46% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1371179452201518243377108124
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan13718
Feb11715
Mar9414
Apr528
May204
Jun153
Jul183
Aug244
Sep337
Oct7714
Nov10817
Dec12420

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Mooi River, 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 10 and lasts for 5.4 months, ending around September 20. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 88% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 21 and lasts for 6.6 months, ending around April 9. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 62% 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 11 · 89%Dec 6 · 37%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4159
Feb4753
Mar5644
Apr6535
May7921
Jun8713
Jul8812
Aug8119
Sep6535
Oct4456
Nov3961
Dec3862

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 14, brings about 13 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around June 15, only 10 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 3 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.75:197:00
Feb13.05:436:46
Mar12.26:036:16
Apr11.36:215:39
May10.66:405:13
Jun10.26:565:05
Jul10.36:575:15
Aug11.06:365:32
Sep11.86:005:49
Oct12.75:246:07
Nov13.55:016:30
Dec13.85:006:52

Sunny days

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

Mooi River averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 4 and 25 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Apr 11 to Sep 21. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 24 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 5 sunny days — about 80% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1425 daysDec 104 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan6Gloomy
Feb7Gloomy
Mar11Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May20Bright
Jun23Brilliant
Jul25Brilliant
Aug21Bright
Sep15Bright
Oct9Mixed
Nov6Gloomy
Dec5Gloomy

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 Mooi River, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.4 months, from around December 7 to March 20. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 39% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around March 21 to December 6, and April 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 18 · 100%Feb 8 · 58%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan1352340
Feb1348391
Mar3453130
Apr841610
May100000
Jun100000
Jul100000
Aug100000
Sep100000
Oct881200
Nov603540
Dec3152170

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 Mooi River is typically calm, near 8 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Aug 12 to Feb 5. The windiest month is October, averaging about 9 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Feb 6 to Aug 11, with May the calmest month at about 7 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeOct 9 · 10 km/hMay 14 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb8calm
Mar8calm
Apr7calm
May7calm
Jun7calm
Jul7calm
Aug8calm
Sep9calm
Oct9calm
Nov9calm
Dec9calm

Hazard calendar for Mooi River

In seasonPeak

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

Mooi River'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 Mooi River

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late September, Mooi River 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 time of year to visit Mooi River for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid March to mid October, with a peak score in the third week of May.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 19 · 7.9

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
Jan5.4fair
Feb5.7good
Mar6.4good
Apr7.2good
May7.8ideal
Jun7.6ideal
Jul7.6ideal
Aug7.7ideal
Sep7.5good
Oct6.3good
Nov5.7good
Dec5.3fair

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 Mooi River for hot-weather activities is from late August to mid May, with a peak score in the last week of March.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMar 26 · 5.7

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 Mooi River, 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 26°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 18°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Mooi River sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 15°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes and sun protection. About 18 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Mooi River 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 Mooi River peaks around January 15 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 23 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 15UV 14Jun 23UV 4
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar11Extreme
Apr7Very high
May6High
Jun4Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug6High
Sep8Very high
Oct11Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Mooi River

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
Jun40
Jul40
Aug5.51.5
Sep6.53.5
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec97

Air quality in Mooi River 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 Mooi River is worst in July — around 71 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.3× the cleanest month (December, 17 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorUnhealthyPoorModerateJul 1769 µg/m³Dec 2317 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan17Moderate
Feb21Moderate
Mar27Moderate
Apr37Poor
May51Poor
Jun57Unhealthy
Jul71Unhealthy
Aug58Unhealthy
Sep49Poor
Oct28Moderate
Nov25Moderate
Dec17Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free day

Mooi River is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun960
Jul950
Aug990
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)

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. Mooi River banks about 2,346 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan325
Feb295
Mar290
Apr202
May122
Jun35
Jul32
Aug100
Sep178
Oct219
Nov248
Dec298

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.

Mooi River receives about 4.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.5 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.5 months, from around Sep 5 to Mar 21. The brightest month is December, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.5 kWh/m² — roughly 42% less than the December peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 276.2 kWhJun 223.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Bright
Feb5.8Bright
Mar5.1Bright
Apr4.3Bright
May3.8Moderate
Jun3.5Moderate
Jul3.7Moderate
Aug4.4Bright
Sep5.1Bright
Oct5.4Bright
Nov5.9Bright
Dec6.1Intense

Where is Mooi River?

Mooi River sits at 29.2°S, 30.0°E, 1,403 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Estcourt, 25 km away.

Topography around Mooi River

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Mooi River has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 140 m around an average of 1,420 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 499 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,183 m.

The land around Mooi River is covered by grassland (62%) and cropland (21%) within 3 km, grassland (67%) and cropland (21%) within 16 km, and grassland (56%) and trees (21%) within 80 km.

3 km
140 m
16 km
499 m
80 km
3,183 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Estcourt 25 km · Wembesi 27 km · Howick 38 km · Mpophomeni 44 km · Pietermaritzburg 60 km · Greytown 60 km · Ladysmith 75 km · Richmond 79 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 Mooi River (-29.2082°, 29.9946°, elevation 1,403 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).