Climate averages 1991–2020
Pretoria 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.
May is a mild month in Pretoria: daytime highs average 21.6°C and nights cool to about 8.7°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 53 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Centurion (13 km away). In May its highs average 20.8°C, 0.8°C cooler than Pretoria, with 15 mm of rain.
Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, Pretoria ranks joint 31st 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; Pretoria is 0.6°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs fall by 2.6°C to 19.0°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 15 mm to 7.2 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
Pretoria climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27.6°C17.1°C | 17.1°C | 103 | 14.7 | 13.514 h |
| February | 27.6°C17.0°C | 17.0°C | 93 | 11.9 | 13.013 h |
| March | 26.1°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 83 | 10.4 | 12.312 h |
| April | 23.6°C12.4°C | 12.4°C | 37 | 6.2 | 11.512 h |
| May, selected | 21.6°C8.7°C | 8.7°C | 15 | 2.6 | 10.911 h |
| June | 19.0°C5.6°C | 5.6°C | 7.2 | 1.1 | 10.611 h |
| July | 19.2°C5.1°C | 5.1°C | 3.2 | 0.7 | 10.711 h |
| August | 22.5°C7.7°C | 7.7°C | 7.0 | 1.4 | 11.211 h |
| September | 26.6°C11.5°C | 11.5°C | 17 | 2.5 | 11.912 h |
| October | 27.5°C13.9°C | 13.9°C | 63 | 8.4 | 12.713 h |
| November | 27.1°C15.2°C | 15.2°C | 90 | 12.4 | 13.413 h |
| December | 27.3°C16.6°C | 16.6°C | 113 | 15.2 | 13.714 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
- Centurion in MaySouth Africa · 13 kmHigh 20.8°C · Low 8.1°C · 15 mm rain
- Ga-Rankuwa in MaySouth Africa · 24 kmHigh 22.0°C · Low 8.7°C · 16 mm rain
- Midrand in MaySouth Africa · 27 kmHigh 19.5°C · Low 6.7°C · 14 mm rain
- Thembisa in MaySouth Africa · 28 kmHigh 19.8°C · Low 7.2°C · 14 mm rain
- Soshanguve in MaySouth Africa · 32 kmHigh 22.5°C · Low 9.3°C · 16 mm rain
- Hammanskraal in MaySouth Africa · 39 kmHigh 23.1°C · Low 9.5°C · 15 mm rain
- Brits in MaySouth Africa · 43 kmHigh 22.7°C · Low 9.5°C · 16 mm rain
- Randburg in MaySouth Africa · 43 kmHigh 19.6°C · Low 6.6°C · 14 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 Pretoria) is explained once on the Pretoria year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Centurion lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.