Climate and average weather in Tongaat

In Tongaat, the weather is humid, warm, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around December.

Best: early April to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Tongaat typically varies from 11°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 8°C or above 31°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Feb
27°
Coldest
Jul
11°
Wettest
Dec
128 mm
Driest
Jun
28 mm
Rain / yr
1004 mm
134 wet days
Daylight
10.1–13.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
6 m
29.6°S
Clearest
Jun
24% cloud

Tongaat is township in South Africa.

Founded
1945

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

Tongaat 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 late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Tongaat stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 27°C and low of 20°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 11°C and high of 22°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in June.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2720
Feb2720
Mar2619
Apr2517
May2314
Jun2211
Jul2211
Aug2213
Sep2314
Oct2316
Nov2417
Dec2619

Average hourly temperature in Tongaat

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 February afternoons, near 27°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 11°C.

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

Tongaat 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° / 20°12416.113.75.6
Feb27° / 20°11413.713.15.8
Mar26° / 19°10813.712.26.2
Apr25° / 17°7710.311.37.1
May23° / 14°456.110.58.1
Jun22° / 11°284.510.18.2
Jul22° / 11°43510.38.0
Aug22° / 13°396.710.97.7
Sep23° / 14°7010.211.86.9
Oct23° / 16°1061512.76.1
Nov24° / 17°12315.713.55.8
Dec26° / 19°12816.713.95.6

Chance of rain

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

Tongaat gets about 1004 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 6.6 months, from around Sep 22 to Apr 10, peaking in November at about 55% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 1.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 128 mm over about 17 wet days; June is the driest, with 28 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 18 · 55%Jul 1 · 15%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5216
Feb4914
Mar4414
Apr3410
May206
Jun155
Jul165
Aug227
Sep3410
Oct4715
Nov5316
Dec5417

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Tongaat collects about 1004 mm of rain across 134 wet days — roughly 84 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 128 mm, while June is the driest at just 28 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 37% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec124114108774528433970106123128
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan12416
Feb11414
Mar10814
Apr7710
May456
Jun285
Jul435
Aug397
Sep7010
Oct10615
Nov12316
Dec12817

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Tongaat, 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 5.3 months, ending around September 16. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 84% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 17 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around April 9. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 69% 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 16 · 85%Nov 26 · 30%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3961
Feb4753
Mar5248
Apr6040
May7624
Jun8416
Jul8317
Aug7525
Sep5743
Oct3862
Nov3169
Dec3367

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 54 min of light; the shortest, around June 11, 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)
Jan13.75:146:56
Feb13.15:386:42
Mar12.25:596:12
Apr11.36:175:34
May10.56:365:07
Jun10.16:524:59
Jul10.36:535:09
Aug10.96:325:27
Sep11.85:555:45
Oct12.75:196:02
Nov13.54:566:26
Dec13.94:556:48

Sunny days

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

Tongaat averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 5 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Apr 6 to Sep 15. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is December, down near 5 sunny days — about 76% fewer than the June peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJun 1623 daysDec 85 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan7Gloomy
Feb8Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May19Bright
Jun22Bright
Jul23Bright
Aug19Bright
Sep13Mixed
Oct8Gloomy
Nov5Gloomy
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 Tongaat, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around October 21 to April 26. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 96% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 27 to October 20, 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 17 · 100%Feb 1 · 3%oppressivehumidcomfortablemuggydryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan15225517
Feb04205422
Mar1829529
Apr102745180
May42431510
Jun8811000
Jul937000
Aug7523200
Sep39451600
Oct18383770
Nov92242252
Dec21234448

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 Tongaat is steady company: average speeds sit near 11 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeOct 11 · 12 km/hMay 11 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan12calm
Feb11calm
Mar11calm
Apr10calm
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul10calm
Aug11calm
Sep12calm
Oct12light breeze
Nov12light breeze
Dec12calm

Hazard calendar for Tongaat

In seasonPeak

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

Tongaat sits in the South Indian Ocean cyclone belt; the season peaks January–March.

Cyclone
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Tongaat

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 25 · 8.2

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
Feb5.8good
Mar6.2good
Apr7.1good
May8.1ideal
Jun8.2ideal
Jul8.0ideal
Aug7.7ideal
Sep6.9good
Oct6.1good
Nov5.8good
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 time of year to visit Tongaat for hot-weather activities is from mid December to late September, with a peak score in the second week of May.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 12 · 6.6

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 Tongaat, 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.

Tongaat packs about the same all year — highs hold near 27°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Tongaat sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 20°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes and sun protection. About 14 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Tongaat

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea offshore is warmest in February at about 25°C and coldest in August near 21°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

20°22°24°26°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan25Warm
Feb25Warm
Mar25Warm
Apr24Warm
May23Refreshing
Jun22Refreshing
Jul21Refreshing
Aug21Refreshing
Sep21Refreshing
Oct22Refreshing
Nov23Refreshing
Dec24Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Tongaat 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 Tongaat peaks around January 15 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 22 at about 4 (moderate).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeHighModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 15UV 12Jun 22UV 4
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar10Extreme
Apr6High
May5Moderate
Jun4Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug5High
Sep6High
Oct10Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Tongaat

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 6.5 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)
Jan8.56.5
Feb8.56
Mar7.55
Apr5.50
May4.50
Jun30
Jul3.50
Aug50
Sep60.5
Oct85.5
Nov85.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Tongaat 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 Tongaat is worst in July — around 100 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.5× the cleanest month (January, 22 µg/m³).

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

0306090120JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorUnhealthyPoorModerateJul 1399 µg/m³Jan 1222 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan22Moderate
Feb28Moderate
Mar42Poor
Apr60Unhealthy
May91Unhealthy
Jun92Unhealthy
Jul100Unhealthy
Aug77Unhealthy
Sep62Unhealthy
Oct39Poor
Nov35Moderate
Dec23Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Tongaat 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. Tongaat banks about 3,637 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan406
Feb375
Mar391
Apr321
May269
Jun202
Jul197
Aug232
Sep261
Oct291
Nov318
Dec373

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.

Tongaat receives about 4.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.2 and 5.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 15 to Mar 25. The brightest month is January, averaging about 5.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.2 kWh/m² — roughly 44% less than the January peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseJan 25.9 kWhJun 233.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar4.9Bright
Apr4.1Bright
May3.6Moderate
Jun3.2Moderate
Jul3.4Moderate
Aug4.0Bright
Sep4.6Bright
Oct5.0Bright
Nov5.4Bright
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Tongaat?

Tongaat sits at 29.6°S, 31.1°E, 6 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Ballitoville, 10 km away.

Topography around Tongaat

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Tongaat has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 173 m around an average of 72 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 573 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,525 m.

The land around Tongaat is covered by trees (35%), cropland (27%) and grassland (21%) within 3 km, trees (30%), water (27%) and grassland (21%) within 16 km, and trees (36%), water (29%) and grassland (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
173 m
16 km
573 m
80 km
1,525 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Ballitoville 10 km · Shakaskraal 17 km · Ntuzuma 24 km · KwaDukuza 32 km · Durban 33 km · Pinetown 35 km · Mpumalanga 53 km · Folweni 56 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 Tongaat (-29.5737°, 31.1155°, elevation 6 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. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. 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).