Climate averages 1991–2020
Stellenbosch weather
in May.
A mild, wet month: the 8th warmest and the 9th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Stellenbosch: daytime highs average 20.6°C and nights cool to about 11.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the 8th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 90 mm of rain on roughly 9 days, which makes May a wet month (the 9th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 10 h 23 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Somerset West (17 km away). In May its highs average 20.4°C, about as warm as Stellenbosch, with 90 mm of rain.
Among the 95 cities listed in South Africa, Stellenbosch ranks joint 51st of 95 for the warmest May highs and joint 93rd of 95 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 95 cities is 21.0°C; Stellenbosch is 0.4°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs fall by 3.2°C to 17.3°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 90 mm to 138 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
Stellenbosch climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28.7°C17.0°C | 17.0°C | 21 | 3.4 | 14.114 h |
| February | 29.2°C17.4°C | 17.4°C | 18 | 3.2 | 13.313 h |
| March | 27.6°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 21 | 3.5 | 12.312 h |
| April | 24.2°C13.8°C | 13.8°C | 56 | 5.7 | 11.311 h |
| May, selected | 20.6°C11.4°C | 11.4°C | 90 | 9.0 | 10.410 h |
| June | 17.3°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 138 | 11.0 | 9.910 h |
| July | 17.0°C7.7°C | 7.7°C | 122 | 10.3 | 10.110 h |
| August | 17.2°C8.0°C | 8.0°C | 105 | 10.9 | 10.911 h |
| September | 19.0°C9.4°C | 9.4°C | 68 | 8.8 | 11.912 h |
| October | 22.0°C11.7°C | 11.7°C | 45 | 6.6 | 12.913 h |
| November | 24.1°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 41 | 5.8 | 13.914 h |
| December | 26.9°C15.7°C | 15.7°C | 24 | 4.2 | 14.414 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
- Somerset West in MaySouth Africa · 17 kmHigh 20.4°C · Low 13.2°C · 90 mm rain
- Paarl in MaySouth Africa · 24 kmHigh 21.4°C · Low 11.1°C · 98 mm rain
- Cape Town in MaySouth Africa · 41 kmHigh 19.3°C · Low 12.1°C · 67 mm rain
- Atlantis in MaySouth Africa · 54 kmHigh 19.4°C · Low 10.3°C · 47 mm rain
- Worcester, South Africa in MaySouth Africa · 63 kmHigh 21.3°C · Low 12.2°C · 39 mm rain
- Mossel Bay in MaySouth Africa · 303 kmHigh 20.8°C · Low 12.8°C · 40 mm rain
- Oudtshoorn in MaySouth Africa · 310 kmHigh 22.2°C · Low 9.1°C · 25 mm rain
- George in MaySouth Africa · 332 kmHigh 19.5°C · Low 11.8°C · 45 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 Stellenbosch) is explained once on the Stellenbosch year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Somerset West lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.