Climate averages 1991–2020
Pietermaritzburg 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.
January is a warm month in Pietermaritzburg: daytime highs average 26.4°C and nights cool to about 17.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the 2nd warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 134 mm of rain on roughly 18 days, which makes January a wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 13 h 48 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Mpumalanga (32 km away). In January its highs average 25.5°C, 0.9°C cooler than Pietermaritzburg, with 101 mm of rain.
Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, Pietermaritzburg ranks joint 51st of 95 for the warmest January highs and 82nd of 95 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 95 cities is 27.0°C; Pietermaritzburg is 0.6°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 0.3°C to 26.6°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 134 mm to 113 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Pietermaritzburg climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 26.4°C17.3°C | 17.3°C | 134 | 18.0 | 13.814 h |
| February | 26.6°C17.6°C | 17.6°C | 113 | 15.0 | 13.113 h |
| March | 25.9°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 96 | 14.3 | 12.312 h |
| April | 23.9°C13.6°C | 13.6°C | 58 | 9.7 | 11.411 h |
| May | 22.6°C10.1°C | 10.1°C | 29 | 5.1 | 10.711 h |
| June | 20.7°C6.9°C | 6.9°C | 20 | 3.4 | 10.310 h |
| July | 20.7°C6.5°C | 6.5°C | 28 | 3.8 | 10.410 h |
| August | 22.5°C8.7°C | 8.7°C | 32 | 5.9 | 11.111 h |
| September | 24.0°C11.2°C | 11.2°C | 56 | 9.5 | 11.912 h |
| October | 23.9°C13.0°C | 13.0°C | 92 | 15.4 | 12.813 h |
| November | 24.7°C14.5°C | 14.5°C | 116 | 17.2 | 13.614 h |
| December | 25.8°C16.2°C | 16.2°C | 129 | 19.2 | 14.014 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
- Mpumalanga in JanuarySouth Africa · 32 kmHigh 25.5°C · Low 17.1°C · 101 mm rain
- Pinetown in JanuarySouth Africa · 53 kmHigh 25.9°C · Low 19.5°C · 91 mm rain
- Ntuzuma in JanuarySouth Africa · 55 kmHigh 27.0°C · Low 20.1°C · 91 mm rain
- Durban in JanuarySouth Africa · 67 kmHigh 26.6°C · Low 21.7°C · 91 mm rain
- KwaDukuza in JanuarySouth Africa · 93 kmHigh 27.6°C · Low 21.0°C · 103 mm rain
- Ladysmith in JanuarySouth Africa · 132 kmHigh 28.0°C · Low 16.7°C · 172 mm rain
- Dundee, South Africa in JanuarySouth Africa · 162 kmHigh 26.4°C · Low 15.9°C · 151 mm rain
- Richards Bay in JanuarySouth Africa · 185 kmHigh 28.6°C · Low 22.4°C · 108 mm rain
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 limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Pietermaritzburg) is explained once on the Pietermaritzburg year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.