Climate and average weather in Ottosdal

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

Best: early April to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ottosdal typically varies from 4°C to 28°C, and is rarely below -0°C or above 33°C. December is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Dec
28°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Jan
99 mm
Driest
Jul
4 mm
Rain / yr
539 mm
87 wet days
Daylight
10.3–13.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,495 m
26.8°S
Clearest
Jul
12% cloud

Ottosdal is place in North West, South Africa.

Founded
1913

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

Ottosdal 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 mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 5.8 months, from September 25 to March 19, with daily high temperatures above 26°C. The hottest month of the year in Ottosdal is December, with an average high of 28°C and low of 16°C.

The cool season lasts 2.4 months, from May 27 to August 6, with daily high temperatures below 20°C. The coldest month of the year in Ottosdal is July, with an average low of 4°C and high of 19°C.

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

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2817
Feb2817
Mar2615
Apr2411
May217
Jun194
Jul194
Aug216
Sep2510
Oct2714
Nov2815
Dec2816

Average hourly temperature in Ottosdal

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 28°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Ottosdal 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
Jan28° / 17°991513.55.4
Feb28° / 17°8112.912.96.1
Mar26° / 15°6911.312.26.7
Apr24° / 11°416.511.47.9
May21° / 182.810.78.4
Jun19° / 91.510.38.1
Jul19° / 40.610.58.3
Aug21° / 111.511.18.8
Sep25° / 10°142.411.88.7
Oct27° / 14°477.912.67.3
Nov28° / 15°6210.313.36.5
Dec28° / 16°851413.75.6

Chance of rain

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

Ottosdal gets about 539 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 5.9 months, from around Oct 14 to Apr 12, peaking in January at about 50% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 14.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 99 mm over about 15 wet days; July is the driest, with 4 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 21 · 50%Jul 14 · 2%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4915
Feb4513
Mar3711
Apr227
May93
Jun52
Jul31
Aug52
Sep92
Oct248
Nov3510
Dec4414

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ottosdal collects about 539 mm of rain across 87 wet days — roughly 45 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 99 mm, while July is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 49% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec9981694118941114476285
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan9915
Feb8113
Mar6911
Apr417
May183
Jun92
Jul41
Aug112
Sep142
Oct478
Nov6210
Dec8514

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Ottosdal, 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 20 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around October 11. 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 12 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around April 19. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 30% 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 23 · 96%Dec 3 · 69%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7030
Feb7228
Mar7426
Apr8020
May8812
Jun919
Jul946
Aug937
Sep8911
Oct8020
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 11, 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)
Jan13.55:407:11
Feb12.96:026:59
Mar12.26:206:32
Apr11.46:355:57
May10.76:525:33
Jun10.37:065:26
Jul10.57:085:36
Aug11.16:495:51
Sep11.86:156:06
Oct12.65:426:20
Nov13.35:216:42
Dec13.75:227:02

Sunny days

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

Ottosdal averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 13 and 27 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Apr 21 to Oct 10. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 27 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 13 sunny days — about 50% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1927 daysJan 2313 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan14Mixed
Feb13Mixed
Mar16Bright
Apr18Bright
May24Brilliant
Jun25Brilliant
Jul27Brilliant
Aug26Brilliant
Sep23Brilliant
Oct19Bright
Nov15Mixed
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 Ottosdal, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.4 months, from around December 14 to March 26. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 28% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around March 27 to December 13, 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 26 · 100%Jan 24 · 67%humiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan333928
Feb274429
Mar493912
Apr87121
May10000
Jun10000
Jul10000
Aug10000
Sep10000
Oct9370
Nov76212
Dec514010

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 Ottosdal is typically calm, near 12 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.2 months, from around Jul 28 to Jan 2. The windiest month is September, averaging about 14 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jan 3 to Jul 27, with February the calmest month at about 10 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmlight breezeSep 24 · 14 km/hFeb 28 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr10calm
May10calm
Jun11calm
Jul11calm
Aug13light breeze
Sep14light breeze
Oct14light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec13light breeze

Hazard calendar for Ottosdal

In seasonPeak

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

Ottosdal'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 Ottosdal

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 1 · 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
Jan5.4fair
Feb6.1good
Mar6.7good
Apr7.8ideal
May8.4ideal
Jun8.1ideal
Jul8.3ideal
Aug8.8ideal
Sep8.7ideal
Oct7.3good
Nov6.5good
Dec5.6good

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 Ottosdal for hot-weather activities run from late February to late April and again from late August to mid January, with a peak score in the third week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 18 · 8.0

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 Ottosdal, 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 28°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 19°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In December, Ottosdal sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 16°C. Pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 14 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Ottosdal 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 Ottosdal 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 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighVery highExtremeJan 13UV 15Jun 20UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr8Very high
May6High
Jun5High
Jul6High
Aug7Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct11Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Ottosdal

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
Feb8.57
Mar86
Apr74
May5.51.5
Jun50
Jul50
Aug63
Sep74.5
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec97

Air quality in Ottosdal 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 Ottosdal 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%)

Ottosdal is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about July 21 to June 21 (336 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeJul 2190%Jun 2190%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May990
Jun923
Jul8920
Aug960
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. Ottosdal banks about 2,880 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)
Jan394
Feb340
Mar330
Apr226
May130
Jun35
Jul31
Aug117
Sep236
Oct319
Nov341
Dec384

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.

Ottosdal receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.9 and 7.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 4 to Mar 15. The brightest month is December, averaging about 7.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.9 kWh/m² — roughly 47% less than the December peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 177.4 kWhJun 193.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.0Intense
Feb6.5Intense
Mar5.8Bright
Apr4.9Bright
May4.3Bright
Jun3.9Moderate
Jul4.2Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep6.2Intense
Oct6.9Intense
Nov7.3Intense
Dec7.3Intense

Where is Ottosdal?

Ottosdal sits at 26.8°S, 26.0°E, 1,495 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Hartbeesfontein, 41 km away.

Topography around Ottosdal

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ottosdal has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 72 m around an average of 1,491 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 156 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 411 m.

The land around Ottosdal is covered by grassland (50%) and cropland (36%) within 3 km, cropland (51%) and grassland (44%) within 16 km, and grassland (54%) and cropland (42%) within 80 km.

3 km
72 m
16 km
156 m
80 km
411 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Hartbeesfontein 41 km · Wolmaransstad 43 km · Leeudoringstad 53 km · Makwassie 56 km · Coligny 62 km · Klerksdorp 66 km · Orkney 69 km · Lichtenburg 75 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 Ottosdal (-26.8091°, 26.0054°, elevation 1,495 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).