Climate and average weather in Whittlesea

In Whittlesea, the summers are warm, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild and clear.

Best: late February to early January

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Whittlesea typically varies from 3°C to 26°C, and is rarely below -1°C or above 33°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Whittlesea for warm-weather activities are from mid January to late January and late February to early January.

Hottest
Jan
26°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Jan
106 mm
Driest
Jun
16 mm
Rain / yr
665 mm
104 wet days
Daylight
9.9–14.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,062 m
32.2°S
Clearest
Jul
27% cloud

Whittlesea is town.

Founded
1847

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

Whittlesea 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 February to early January.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.6 months, from November 6 to March 26, with daily high temperatures above 24°C. The hottest month of the year in Whittlesea is January, with an average high of 26°C and low of 14°C.

The cool season lasts 2.7 months, from May 28 to August 17, with daily high temperatures below 18°C. The coldest month of the year in Whittlesea is July, with an average low of 3°C and high of 16°C.

Days typically run about 13°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2614
Feb2614
Mar2413
Apr219
May196
Jun163
Jul163
Aug184
Sep217
Oct229
Nov2410
Dec2512

How hot and cold Whittlesea really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -0°C (around June 29), with roughly 22 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in June.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan26261414
Feb26261414
Mar24241213
Apr212199
May191946
Jun161613
Jul161603
Aug181824
Sep212157
Oct222279
Nov24241010
Dec25251212

Average hourly temperature in Whittlesea

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 July, near C.

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

Whittlesea weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan26° / 14°10614.9013.96.1
Feb26° / 14°9713.7013.26.1
Mar24° / 13°8412.7012.26.7
Apr21° / 538.50.111.27.0
May19° / 184.1010.47.3
Jun16° / 163.40.19.96.4
Jul16° / 183.30.510.16.4
Aug18° / 254.70.210.87.0
Sep21° / 325.10.111.87.5
Oct22° / 569.3012.87.0
Nov24° / 10°7311.1013.66.8
Dec25° / 12°8713.2014.16.4

Chance of rain

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

Whittlesea gets about 665 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 6.0 months, from around Oct 13 to Apr 14, peaking in February at about 50% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 4.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 106 mm over about 15 wet days; June is the driest, with 16 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 17 · 50%Jul 4 · 8%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4715
Feb4914
Mar4113
Apr289
May144
Jun113
Jul113
Aug155
Sep185
Oct309
Nov3711
Dec4313

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Whittlesea collects about 665 mm of rain across 104 wet days — roughly 55 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 106 mm, while June is the driest at just 16 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1069784531816182532567387
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan106150
Feb97140
Mar84130
Apr5390
May1840
Jun1630
Jul1831
Aug2550
Sep3250
Oct5690
Nov73110
Dec87130

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Whittlesea, 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 18 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around September 12. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 82% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 13 and lasts for 7.1 months, ending around April 17. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 46% 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 6 · 84%Dec 3 · 54%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5743
Feb5842
Mar6337
Apr6535
May7030
Jun8020
Jul8218
Aug7723
Sep6535
Oct5644
Nov5446
Dec5743

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 14 h 06 min of light; the shortest, around June 10, only 9 h 54 min — a swing of roughly 4 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.95:257:19
Feb13.25:527:03
Mar12.26:156:30
Apr11.26:375:49
May10.46:585:20
Jun9.97:165:10
Jul10.17:165:21
Aug10.86:535:41
Sep11.86:136:01
Oct12.85:346:22
Nov13.65:086:48
Dec14.15:067:12

Sunny days

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

Whittlesea averages about 15 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.9 months, from around Apr 21 to Sep 17. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is February, down near 11 sunny days — about 50% fewer than the July peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 722 daysFeb 1510 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May17Bright
Jun20Bright
Jul22Bright
Aug20Bright
Sep15Bright
Oct12Mixed
Nov11Mixed
Dec11Mixed

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 Whittlesea, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in February, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 12% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 7 · 100%Feb 14 · 86%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan513911
Feb424612
Mar66313
Apr9550
May10000
Jun10000
Jul10000
Aug10000
Sep10000
Oct9910
Nov9190
Dec73243

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

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeJun 15 · 11 km/hMar 1 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb9calm
Mar8calm
Apr9calm
May10calm
Jun11calm
Jul11calm
Aug11calm
Sep11calm
Oct10calm
Nov10calm
Dec10calm

Hazard calendar for Whittlesea

In seasonPeak

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

Whittlesea's rainy season runs October–April, 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 Whittlesea

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 7 · 7.6

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
Jan6.1good
Feb6.1good
Mar6.7good
Apr7.0good
May7.3good
Jun6.4good
Jul6.4good
Aug7.0good
Sep7.4good
Oct7.0good
Nov6.8good
Dec6.4good

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 Whittlesea for hot-weather activities is from early October to mid April, with a peak score in the last week of December.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 22 · 6.0

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 Whittlesea, 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 July (highs near 16°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Whittlesea sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 14°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 15 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Whittlesea 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 Whittlesea peaks around January 14 at about 14 (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.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighModerateHighExtremeJan 14UV 14Jun 23UV 4
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar10Extreme
Apr7High
May5Moderate
Jun4Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug6High
Sep7High
Oct11Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Whittlesea

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
Feb8.56.5
Mar7.55
Apr62.5
May4.50
Jun30
Jul30
Aug50
Sep62.5
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec97

Air quality in Whittlesea 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 Whittlesea is worst in August — around 17 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.9× the cleanest month (December, 6 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodAug 1916 µg/m³Dec 236 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan6Good
Feb6Good
Mar8Good
Apr10Good
May12Moderate
Jun13Moderate
Jul13Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep15Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov7Good
Dec6Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Whittlesea is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about August 19 to June 4 (290 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeAug 1990%Jun 490%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May980
Jun8727
Jul8231
Aug8919
Sep970
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. Whittlesea banks about 1,897 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan308
Feb276
Mar261
Apr162
May84
Jun3
Jul0
Aug35
Sep115
Oct170
Nov210
Dec273

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.

Whittlesea receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.1 and 7.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Sep 13 to Mar 20. The brightest month is December, averaging about 6.9 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.1 kWh/m² — roughly 55% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 207.0 kWhJun 163.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.7Intense
Feb6.0Intense
Mar5.2Bright
Apr4.2Bright
May3.5Moderate
Jun3.1Moderate
Jul3.3Moderate
Aug4.1Bright
Sep5.2Bright
Oct6.0Bright
Nov6.7Intense
Dec6.9Intense

Where is Whittlesea?

Whittlesea sits at 32.2°S, 26.8°E, 1,062 m above sea level, in South Africa. The nearest listed city is Queenstown, 31 km away.

Topography around Whittlesea

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Whittlesea has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 207 m around an average of 1,081 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 649 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,036 m.

The land around Whittlesea is covered by cropland (40%) and grassland (37%) within 3 km, grassland (63%) and shrubs (22%) within 16 km, and grassland (67%) within 80 km.

3 km
207 m
16 km
649 m
80 km
2,036 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Queenstown 31 km · Queensdale 37 km · Lady Frere 65 km · Alice 68 km · Fort Beaufort 69 km · Stutterheim 71 km · Dimbaza 82 km · Bhisho 94 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 Whittlesea (-32.1759°, 26.8244°, elevation 1,062 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).