Climate averages 1991–2020

Centurion weather
in May.

A mild, fairly dry month: the 10th warmest and the 4th driest of the year. Meets the pleasant-weather rule

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 20.8°C Daytime mean, May
Average low 8.1°C Night-time mean, May
Rainfall 15 mm 3 days with ≥1 mm
Daylight 11 h Sunrise to sunset, per day
Every month in Centurion · average highYear overview

May is a mild month in Centurion: daytime highs average 20.8°C and nights cool to about 8.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 10th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 15 mm of rain on roughly 3 days, which makes May a fairly dry month (the 4th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 10 h 52 min on an average May day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Pretoria (13 km away). In May its highs average 21.6°C, 0.8°C warmer than Centurion, with 15 mm of rain.

Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, Centurion ranks joint 45th of 95 for the warmest May highs and joint 12th of 95 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 95 cities is 21.0°C; Centurion is 0.2°C cooler than that mean.

From May to June, average highs fall by 2.4°C to 18.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 15 mm to 7.2 mm.

The annual picture

May in context

30-year average
Average highAverage low°C
Average daily high and low temperatures by month The same values are available in the monthly table below. Lines show mean daily maxima and minima, not a forecast interval. 051015202530 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm
Average monthly rainfall totalsEach bar is a mean monthly total over 1991–2020. Full numbers are in the table. JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 1500

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Centurion climate table

1991–2020
Monthly climate averages for Centurion, 1991–2020
MonthAverage highHigh / lowAverage lowRainfall mm/monthRain days ≥1 mm/dayDaylight hours/dayDay­light h/day
January 26.7°C16.4°C16.4°C10314.713.614 h
February 26.6°C16.3°C16.3°C9311.913.013 h
March 25.3°C14.8°C14.8°C8310.412.312 h
April 22.8°C11.8°C11.8°C376.211.511 h
May, selected 20.8°C8.1°C8.1°C152.610.911 h
June 18.4°C5.2°C5.2°C7.21.110.511 h
July 18.6°C4.6°C4.6°C3.20.710.711 h
August 21.7°C7.1°C7.1°C7.01.411.211 h
September 25.8°C10.8°C10.8°C172.511.912 h
October 26.7°C13.2°C13.2°C638.412.713 h
November 26.3°C14.6°C14.6°C9012.413.413 h
December 26.5°C16.0°C16.0°C11315.213.714 h

Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.

Compare places

May in nearby cities

Distance from Centurion

Read the numbers correctly

Climate, not a promise.

These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.

Sources, method and limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Centurion) is explained once on the Centurion year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.

Pretoria lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.