Climate and average weather in Wembesi

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

Best: late March to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Wembesi typically varies from 3°C to 26°C, and is rarely below -1°C or above 32°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while June is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Wembesi for warm-weather activities is from late March to mid October.

Hottest
Jan
26°
Coldest
Jun
Wettest
Jan
159 mm
Driest
Jun
13 mm
Rain / yr
895 mm
128 wet days
Daylight
10.1–13.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,254 m
29.0°S
Clearest
Jul
18% cloud

Wembesi 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 late March to mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Wembesi, 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 October 29 to March 27, with daily high temperatures above 24°C. The hottest month of the year in Wembesi is January, with an average high of 26°C and low of 16°C.

The cool season lasts 2.4 months, from May 29 to August 8, with daily high temperatures below 19°C. The coldest month of the year in Wembesi is June, with an average low of 3°C and high of 18°C.

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

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2616
Feb2616
Mar2514
Apr2311
May217
Jun183
Jul183
Aug206
Sep239
Oct2411
Nov2513
Dec2615

Average hourly temperature in Wembesi

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 June, near C.

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

Wembesi 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° / 16°15919.613.65.2
Feb26° / 16°13516.4135.5
Mar25° / 14°10814.812.26.2
Apr23° / 11°55911.37.2
May21° / 193.810.67.9
Jun18° / 132.610.27.7
Jul18° / 152.510.37.7
Aug20° / 233.9117.9
Sep23° / 305.911.87.8
Oct24° / 11°8113.612.76.5
Nov25° / 13°10616.413.55.7
Dec26° / 15°15019.913.85.2

Chance of rain

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

Wembesi gets about 895 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 4 to Apr 4, peaking in January at about 65% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 20.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 159 mm over about 20 wet days; June is the driest, with 13 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 25 · 65%Jun 20 · 8%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6320
Feb5916
Mar4715
Apr309
May134
Jun83
Jul93
Aug124
Sep216
Oct4214
Nov5516
Dec6420

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Wembesi collects about 895 mm of rain across 128 wet days — roughly 75 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 159 mm, while June is the driest at just 13 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 50% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec15913510855191315233081106150
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan15920
Feb13516
Mar10815
Apr559
May194
Jun133
Jul153
Aug234
Sep306
Oct8114
Nov10616
Dec15020

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Wembesi, 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 12 and lasts for 5.4 months, ending around September 23. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 89% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 24 and lasts for 6.6 months, ending around April 11. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 57% 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 13 · 90%Dec 7 · 41%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4555
Feb5248
Mar5941
Apr6733
May8119
Jun8812
Jul8911
Aug8317
Sep7030
Oct5149
Nov4555
Dec4357

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 17, brings about 13 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around June 18, 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)
Jan13.65:207:00
Feb13.05:446:47
Mar12.26:046:17
Apr11.36:225:40
May10.66:415:14
Jun10.26:565:06
Jul10.36:575:16
Aug11.06:365:33
Sep11.86:005:50
Oct12.75:256:07
Nov13.55:026:30
Dec13.85:026:52

Sunny days

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

Wembesi averages about 15 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 6 and 25 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.5 months, from around Apr 11 to Sep 24. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 25 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 6 sunny days — about 77% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1825 daysDec 166 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan7Gloomy
Feb8Mixed
Mar12Mixed
Apr15Bright
May21Bright
Jun24Brilliant
Jul25Brilliant
Aug22Bright
Sep17Bright
Oct10Mixed
Nov7Gloomy
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 Wembesi, 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 18. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 38% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around March 19 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 17 · 100%Feb 2 · 58%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan115434
Feb125038
Mar365112
Apr86131
May10000
Jun10000
Jul10000
Aug10000
Sep10000
Oct87120
Nov59365
Dec275517

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 Wembesi is steady company: average speeds sit near 7 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeNov 13 · 8 km/hMay 15 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug7calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov8calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Wembesi

In seasonPeak

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

Wembesi'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 Wembesi

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 2 · 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
Jan5.2fair
Feb5.5fair
Mar6.2good
Apr7.2good
May7.9ideal
Jun7.7ideal
Jul7.7ideal
Aug7.9ideal
Sep7.8ideal
Oct6.5good
Nov5.7good
Dec5.2fair

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 Wembesi for hot-weather activities run from late August to late November and again from mid December to early May, with a peak score in the second week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 14 · 6.2

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 Wembesi, 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 June (highs near 18°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Wembesi sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 16°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 20 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Wembesi 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 Wembesi peaks around January 15 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 23 at about 5 (moderate).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 15UV 15Jun 23UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr7Very high
May6High
Jun5Moderate
Jul5Moderate
Aug6High
Sep8Very high
Oct11Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Wembesi

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 7.5 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)
Jan97.5
Feb8.56.5
Mar85.5
Apr6.53.5
May5.50
Jun40
Jul40
Aug5.51.5
Sep6.54
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec97

Air quality in Wembesi 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 Wembesi 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 dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Wembesi is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about July 23 to June 7 (320 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeJul 2390%Jun 790%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May990
Jun8822
Jul8722
Aug970
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. Wembesi banks about 2,368 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan342
Feb307
Mar297
Apr202
May109
Jun15
Jul13
Aug89
Sep180
Oct232
Nov265
Dec316

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.

Wembesi receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.6 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.5 months, from around Sep 5 to Mar 20. The brightest month is December, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.6 kWh/m² — roughly 43% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 256.4 kWhJun 233.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.2Intense
Feb5.9Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr4.5Bright
May4.0Moderate
Jun3.6Moderate
Jul3.8Moderate
Aug4.5Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.7Bright
Nov6.2Intense
Dec6.4Intense

Where is Wembesi?

Wembesi sits at 29.0°S, 29.8°E, 1,254 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Estcourt, 9.0 km away.

Topography around Wembesi

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Wembesi has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 286 m around an average of 1,304 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 966 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,962 m.

The land around Wembesi is covered by grassland (71%) within 3 km, grassland (68%) within 16 km, and grassland (65%) within 80 km.

3 km
286 m
16 km
966 m
80 km
2,962 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Estcourt 9.0 km · Mooi River 27 km · Ladysmith 55 km · Howick 65 km · Mpophomeni 70 km · Greytown 79 km · Pietermaritzburg 87 km · Richmond 103 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 Wembesi (-29.0491°, 29.7823°, elevation 1,254 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).