Climate averages 1991–2020

East London weather
in January.

A warm, moderately wet month: the 2nd warmest and the 7th driest of the year.

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

Average high 25.7°C Daytime mean, January

Average low 20.1°C Night-time mean, January

Rainfall 81 mm 12 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 14 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a warm month in East London: daytime highs average 25.7°C and nights cool to about 20.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 2nd warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 81 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes January a moderately wet month (the 7th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 03 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Mdantsane (16 km away). In January its highs average 25.6°C, about as warm as East London, with 76 mm of rain.

Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, East London ranks joint 60th of 95 for the warmest January highs and 18th of 95 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 95 cities is 27.0°C; East London is 1.3°C cooler than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 0.4°C to 26.1°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 81 mm to 84 mm.

The annual picture

January in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

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

Every month, side by side

East London climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for East London, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	25.7°C20.1°C	20.1°C	81	11.6	14.114 h
February	26.1°C20.6°C	20.6°C	84	10.9	13.313 h
March	25.3°C19.7°C	19.7°C	90	12.1	12.312 h
April	23.7°C17.6°C	17.6°C	85	9.6	11.311 h
May	22.9°C15.8°C	15.8°C	34	5.7	10.410 h
June	21.5°C13.7°C	13.7°C	34	4.5	10.010 h
July	21.3°C13.0°C	13.0°C	38	5.1	10.210 h
August	21.1°C13.3°C	13.3°C	47	6.9	10.911 h
September	21.6°C14.3°C	14.3°C	57	7.6	11.912 h
October	21.9°C15.7°C	15.7°C	77	11.3	12.913 h
November	23.0°C17.0°C	17.0°C	84	11.6	13.814 h
December	24.5°C18.9°C	18.9°C	83	12.5	14.314 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

January in nearby cities

Distance from East London

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 East London) is explained once on the East London year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.