Climate and average weather in Ulundi

In Ulundi, the summers are humid, hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are warm and clear.

Best: mid April to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ulundi typically varies from 10°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 7°C or above 36°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 Ulundi for warm-weather activities is from mid April to late September.

Hottest
Jan
30°
Coldest
Jul
10°
Wettest
Jan
86 mm
Driest
Jun
12 mm
Rain / yr
616 mm
98 wet days
Daylight
10.2–13.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
484 m
28.3°S
Clearest
Jun
22% cloud

Ulundi is town in the Zululand District Municipality, and at one time the capital of Zululand in South Africa.

Density
3,096/km²
people per km²
Founded
1873

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

Ulundi 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 April to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Ulundi stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is January, with an average high of 30°C and low of 20°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 10°C and high of 24°C.

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

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3020
Feb3020
Mar2919
Apr2716
May2613
Jun2410
Jul2410
Aug2512
Sep2614
Oct2616
Nov2717
Dec2919

Average hourly temperature in Ulundi

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 30°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 10°C.

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

Ulundi 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° / 20°8613.513.64.6
Feb30° / 20°7510.9134.8
Mar29° / 19°7210.512.25.5
Apr27° / 16°426.811.37.2
May26° / 13°193.310.68.4
Jun24° / 10°122.210.29.0
Jul24° / 10°172.510.48.9
Aug25° / 12°194.1118.4
Sep26° / 14°356.311.87.4
Oct26° / 16°6710.912.76.5
Nov27° / 17°861313.45.8
Dec29° / 19°8613.913.85.0

Chance of rain

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

Ulundi gets about 616 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 Sep 27 to Mar 31, peaking in December at about 46% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 12.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 86 mm over about 14 wet days; June is the driest, with 12 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 9 · 46%Jun 12 · 7%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4314
Feb3911
Mar3411
Apr227
May113
Jun72
Jul83
Aug134
Sep226
Oct3411
Nov4413
Dec4414

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ulundi collects about 616 mm of rain across 98 wet days — roughly 51 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 86 mm, while June is the driest at just 12 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 42% of the year’s total.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec867572421912171935678686
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan8614
Feb7511
Mar7211
Apr427
May193
Jun122
Jul173
Aug194
Sep356
Oct6711
Nov8613
Dec8614

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Ulundi, 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 21. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 85% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 22 and lasts for 6.6 months, ending around April 9. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 66% 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 15 · 86%Nov 20 · 32%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4159
Feb4951
Mar5743
Apr6436
May8020
Jun8515
Jul8416
Aug7723
Sep6337
Oct4357
Nov3466
Dec3565

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 48 min of light; the shortest, around June 10, only 10 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 3 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.65:156:52
Feb13.05:396:39
Mar12.25:586:10
Apr11.36:155:34
May10.66:335:08
Jun10.26:485:01
Jul10.46:495:11
Aug11.06:295:28
Sep11.85:545:44
Oct12.75:196:00
Nov13.44:576:23
Dec13.84:576:44

Sunny days

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

Ulundi averages about 14 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 5.5 months, from around Apr 8 to Sep 21. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 23 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is November, down near 5 sunny days — about 77% fewer than the June peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJun 1123 daysNov 175 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan8Gloomy
Feb9Mixed
Mar12Mixed
Apr15Bright
May21Bright
Jun23Brilliant
Jul23Bright
Aug20Bright
Sep15Bright
Oct9Mixed
Nov5Gloomy
Dec6Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.6 months, from around October 28 to April 16. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 91% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 17 to October 27, 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 3 · 100%Feb 5 · 8%muggycomfortabledryhumidhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan21138455
Feb0938475
Mar31745331
Apr20393560
May6927500
Jun964000
Jul982000
Aug8713000
Sep6035600
Oct31412620
Nov123240170
Dec41944322

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 Ulundi is steady company: average speeds sit near 10 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeSep 29 · 11 km/hMay 2 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan10calm
Feb9calm
Mar9calm
Apr9calm
May8calm
Jun9calm
Jul9calm
Aug10calm
Sep11calm
Oct11calm
Nov11calm
Dec10calm

Best time to visit Ulundi

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid September, Ulundi 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 Ulundi for general outdoor tourist activities is from late April to late September, with a peak score in the second week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 14 · 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
Jan4.6fair
Feb4.8fair
Mar5.6good
Apr7.1good
May8.3ideal
Jun9.0ideal
Jul8.9ideal
Aug8.4ideal
Sep7.4good
Oct6.5good
Nov5.8good
Dec5.0fair

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 Ulundi for hot-weather activities run from late January to mid October and again from late December to mid January, with a peak score in the last week of May.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 22 · 7.8

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 Ulundi, 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 30°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 24°C), pack light clothes.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Ulundi sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 20°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: rain gear and sun protection. About 14 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Ulundi 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 Ulundi peaks around February 9 at about 12 (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.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeHighModerateHighVery highExtremeFeb 9UV 12Jun 23UV 4
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar11Extreme
Apr6High
May5High
Jun4Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug6High
Sep7High
Oct10Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Ulundi

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 February 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
Feb8.56.5
Mar7.55.5
Apr5.51.5
May4.50
Jun3.50
Jul40
Aug5.50
Sep6.53
Oct85.5
Nov85.5
Dec96.5

Air quality in Ulundi 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 Ulundi is worst in July — around 40 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 4.3× the cleanest month (January, 9 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModeratePoorModerateJul 1639 µg/m³Jan 1610 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan9Good
Feb12Good
Mar15Moderate
Apr22Moderate
May33Moderate
Jun35Moderate
Jul40Poor
Aug33Moderate
Sep29Moderate
Oct18Moderate
Nov17Moderate
Dec11Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Ulundi 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. Ulundi banks about 4,063 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)
Jan458
Feb416
Mar431
Apr352
May289
Jun214
Jul214
Aug261
Sep305
Oct334
Nov364
Dec425

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.

Ulundi receives about 4.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.3 and 5.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.5 months, from around Sep 9 to Mar 25. The brightest month is January, averaging about 5.7 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.4 kWh/m² — roughly 41% less than the January peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseJan 25.8 kWhJun 253.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.7Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar4.9Bright
Apr4.1Bright
May3.7Moderate
Jun3.3Moderate
Jul3.5Moderate
Aug4.1Bright
Sep4.7Bright
Oct4.8Bright
Nov5.2Bright
Dec5.6Bright

Where is Ulundi?

Ulundi sits at 28.3°S, 31.4°E, 484 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Eshowe, 62 km away.

Topography around Ulundi

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ulundi has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 170 m around an average of 477 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 874 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,775 m.

The land around Ulundi is covered by trees (33%) and shrubs (29%) within 3 km, shrubs (38%), trees (30%) and grassland (28%) within 16 km, and grassland (51%) and trees (31%) within 80 km.

3 km
170 m
16 km
874 m
80 km
1,775 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Eshowe 62 km · Empangeni 67 km · Mtubatuba 76 km · eSikhaleni 76 km · Richards Bay 79 km · Mondlo 79 km · Vryheid 88 km · Mandeni 90 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 Ulundi (-28.3352°, 31.4162°, elevation 484 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).