Climate averages 1991–2020

Mthatha weather
in January.

A warm, wet month: the 2nd warmest and the wettest of the year.

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

Average high 24.9°C Daytime mean, January

Average low 16.2°C Night-time mean, January

Rainfall 145 mm 19 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 14 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a warm month in Mthatha: daytime highs average 24.9°C and nights cool to about 16.2°C. By daytime temperature it is the 2nd warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 145 mm of rain on roughly 19 days, which makes January a wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 13 h 57 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Mdantsane (177 km away). In January its highs average 25.6°C, 0.7°C warmer than Mthatha, with 76 mm of rain.

Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, Mthatha ranks joint 81st of 95 for the warmest January highs and 90th of 95 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 95 cities is 27.0°C; Mthatha is 2.1°C cooler than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 0.2°C to 25.2°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 145 mm to 131 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

Mthatha climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Mthatha, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	24.9°C16.2°C	16.2°C	145	18.7	13.914 h
February	25.2°C16.7°C	16.7°C	131	16.0	13.213 h
March	24.4°C15.6°C	15.6°C	120	16.1	12.312 h
April	22.7°C13.1°C	13.1°C	76	9.8	11.311 h
May	21.6°C10.6°C	10.6°C	27	5.0	10.511 h
June	19.8°C7.6°C	7.6°C	24	3.3	10.110 h
July	20.0°C7.2°C	7.2°C	22	3.2	10.310 h
August	21.2°C8.6°C	8.6°C	32	5.5	11.011 h
September	22.4°C10.2°C	10.2°C	56	8.4	11.912 h
October	22.2°C11.7°C	11.7°C	96	14.9	12.813 h
November	22.9°C13.1°C	13.1°C	129	16.4	13.714 h
December	24.0°C14.9°C	14.9°C	140	18.5	14.214 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 Mthatha

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