Climate averages 1991–2020
Pietermaritzburg weather
in May.
A warm, fairly dry month: the 9th warmest and the 3rd driest of the year. Meets the pleasant-weather rule
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a warm month in Pietermaritzburg: daytime highs average 22.6°C and nights cool to about 10.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 9th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 29 mm of rain on roughly 5 days, which makes May a fairly dry month (the 3rd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 10 h 39 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Mpumalanga (32 km away). In May its highs average 22.4°C, about as warm as Pietermaritzburg, with 33 mm of rain.
Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, Pietermaritzburg ranks joint 16th of 95 for the warmest May highs and 79th of 95 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 95 cities is 21.0°C; Pietermaritzburg is 1.7°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs fall by 2.0°C to 20.7°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 29 mm to 20 mm.
The annual picture
May 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 | 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, selected | 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
May in nearby cities
- Mpumalanga in MaySouth Africa · 32 kmHigh 22.4°C · Low 10.4°C · 33 mm rain
- Pinetown in MaySouth Africa · 53 kmHigh 22.8°C · Low 13.6°C · 43 mm rain
- Ntuzuma in MaySouth Africa · 55 kmHigh 24.0°C · Low 14.1°C · 43 mm rain
- Durban in MaySouth Africa · 67 kmHigh 23.5°C · Low 16.8°C · 43 mm rain
- KwaDukuza in MaySouth Africa · 93 kmHigh 24.0°C · Low 15.7°C · 44 mm rain
- Ladysmith in MaySouth Africa · 132 kmHigh 21.8°C · Low 7.6°C · 21 mm rain
- Dundee, South Africa in MaySouth Africa · 162 kmHigh 20.9°C · Low 8.7°C · 18 mm rain
- Richards Bay in MaySouth Africa · 185 kmHigh 24.7°C · Low 17.7°C · 56 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.