Climate and average weather in Nkowakowa

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

Best: early April to early October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Nkowakowa typically varies from 8°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 5°C or above 32°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 Nkowakowa for warm-weather activities is from early April to early October.

Hottest
Jan
27°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Dec
156 mm
Driest
Jun
10 mm
Rain / yr
839 mm
112 wet days
Daylight
10.5–13.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
584 m
23.9°S
Clearest
Jun
19% cloud

Nkowakowa is human settlement in South Africa.

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

Nkowakowa 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 Nkowakowa, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Nkowakowa stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is January, with an average high of 27°C and low of 19°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 8°C and high of 21°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in July.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2719
Feb2719
Mar2718
Apr2515
May2411
Jun229
Jul218
Aug2310
Sep2513
Oct2615
Nov2617
Dec2718

Average hourly temperature in Nkowakowa

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 July, near C.

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

Nkowakowa 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° / 19°14816.413.35.6
Feb27° / 19°12613.212.85.9
Mar27° / 18°851212.26.5
Apr25° / 15°47811.57.5
May24° / 11°193.810.98.7
Jun22° / 102.310.68.6
Jul21° / 122.510.78.5
Aug23° / 10°163.211.28.6
Sep25° / 13°336.111.98.0
Oct26° / 15°6310.912.66.8
Nov26° / 17°12415.213.25.8
Dec27° / 18°15617.913.45.4

Chance of rain

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

Nkowakowa gets about 839 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 6.0 months, from around Oct 8 to Apr 8, peaking in December at about 59% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 28.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 156 mm over about 18 wet days; June is the driest, with 10 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 11 · 59%Jun 28 · 7%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5316
Feb4713
Mar3912
Apr278
May134
Jun82
Jul83
Aug113
Sep206
Oct3511
Nov5015
Dec5718

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Nkowakowa collects about 839 mm of rain across 112 wet days — roughly 70 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 156 mm, while June is the driest at just 10 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 51% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1481268547191012163363124156
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan14816
Feb12613
Mar8512
Apr478
May194
Jun102
Jul123
Aug163
Sep336
Oct6311
Nov12415
Dec15618

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Nkowakowa, 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 8 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around October 1. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 90% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 2 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around April 7. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 53% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 20 · 91%Dec 2 · 41%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5446
Feb6139
Mar6733
Apr7525
May8713
Jun9010
Jul8911
Aug8515
Sep7822
Oct6238
Nov4852
Dec4753

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 30 min of light; the shortest, around June 13, 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)
Jan13.35:286:48
Feb12.85:496:38
Mar12.26:036:14
Apr11.56:165:42
May10.96:305:21
Jun10.66:435:15
Jul10.76:455:24
Aug11.26:285:38
Sep11.95:575:49
Oct12.65:276:01
Nov13.25:096:19
Dec13.45:116:39

Sunny days

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

Nkowakowa averages about 17 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 7 and 25 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.9 months, from around Apr 11 to Oct 6. The sunniest month is May, with roughly 23 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 8 sunny days — about 67% fewer than the May peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantMay 3125 daysDec 67 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar14Mixed
Apr17Bright
May24Brilliant
Jun24Brilliant
Jul25Brilliant
Aug23Bright
Sep20Bright
Oct14Mixed
Nov9Mixed
Dec8Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around October 30 to April 11. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 87% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 12 to October 29, and June 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 2 · 100%Jan 28 · 12%muggyhumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan11242432
Feb11345392
Mar32548231
Apr24442840
May7720300
Jun982000
Jul1000000
Aug946000
Sep7523200
Oct39431710
Nov143139150
Dec31844341

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.

Wind in Nkowakowa is steady company: average speeds sit near 6 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeOct 9 · 7 km/hApr 20 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep7calm
Oct7calm
Nov7calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Nkowakowa

In seasonPeak

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

Nkowakowa's rainy season runs November–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 Nkowakowa

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 27 · 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
Jan5.6good
Feb5.9good
Mar6.5good
Apr7.5good
May8.6ideal
Jun8.6ideal
Jul8.5ideal
Aug8.6ideal
Sep8.0ideal
Oct6.8good
Nov5.8good
Dec5.4fair

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 Nkowakowa for hot-weather activities run from late January to mid June and again from early August to early November, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 3 · 7.4

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 Nkowakowa, 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 July (highs near 21°C), pack a light layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Nkowakowa sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 16 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Nkowakowa 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 Nkowakowa peaks around January 20 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 21 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 20UV 14Jun 21UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr8Very high
May6High
Jun5High
Jul5High
Aug7Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct10Very high
Nov12Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Nkowakowa

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 8.5 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)
Jan8.57
Feb8.56.5
Mar86
Apr6.54
May5.51.5
Jun50
Jul50
Aug63
Sep74.5
Oct85.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Nkowakowa 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 Nkowakowa is worst in July — around 26 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.2× the cleanest month (January, 8 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1826 µg/m³Jan 108 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb10Good
Mar12Good
Apr17Moderate
May22Moderate
Jun23Moderate
Jul26Moderate
Aug24Moderate
Sep23Moderate
Oct14Moderate
Nov10Good
Dec8Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Nkowakowa 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. Nkowakowa banks about 3,513 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan405
Feb366
Mar376
Apr300
May233
Jun156
Jul145
Aug203
Sep271
Oct322
Nov348
Dec388

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.

Nkowakowa receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.8 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.7 months, from around Aug 31 to Mar 22. The brightest month is January, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.9 kWh/m² — roughly 37% less than the January peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseJan 26.2 kWhJun 283.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.1Intense
Feb5.8Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr4.6Bright
May4.3Bright
Jun3.8Moderate
Jul4.0Moderate
Aug4.7Bright
Sep5.4Bright
Oct5.7Bright
Nov5.8Bright
Dec6.0Bright

Where is Nkowakowa?

Nkowakowa sits at 23.9°S, 30.3°E, 584 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Tzaneen, 14 km away.

Topography around Nkowakowa

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Nkowakowa has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 122 m around an average of 553 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 734 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,790 m.

The land around Nkowakowa is covered by artificial surfaces (33%) and trees (20%) within 3 km, shrubs (38%) and trees (32%) within 16 km, and shrubs (54%) and trees (22%) within 80 km.

3 km
122 m
16 km
734 m
80 km
1,790 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Tzaneen 14 km · Duiwelskloof 26 km · Mankweng 59 km · Praktiseer 77 km · Giyani 79 km · Polokwane 83 km · Phalaborwa 87 km · Lebowakgomo 93 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 Nkowakowa (-23.8878°, 30.2871°, elevation 584 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).