South Africa Climate
Top 5 Cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, and Port Elizabeth
This month in numbers
South Africa experienced an average temperature of 17.79°C in April 2026, marking an anomaly of +0.5°C compared to the 1961–1990 baseline. This ranked as the 35th warmest April in 86 years of records. Globally, April 2026 was the 2nd warmest April on record for land temperatures, with an anomaly of +1.1°C.
What changed
The three-month period from February to April 2026 saw an average temperature of 21.03°C in South Africa, an anomaly of +1°C above the 1961–1990 baseline. This places it as the 15th warmest such period in 86 years of records. South Africa's 1-month anomaly for April was 0.85°C cooler than the average for the wider Africa group.
What’s driving change?
The current ENSO state is Neutral, with an anomaly of +0.11°C for February-April 2026. However, forecasts indicate a strong likelihood of an El Niño developing in the coming months, with a 61% chance for May-July and a 79% chance for June-August. El Niño typically brings warmer, drier conditions to Southern Africa, often leading to major maize-belt droughts and widespread food insecurity, as seen in 2015-16 and 2023-24.
South Africa has also experienced significant extreme weather events recently. A single flood event occurred from May 1st to May 3rd, representing 100% of the flood events logged for South Africa over the past 12 months, an unusual concentration. This flood event has been particularly severe, claiming three lives and causing widespread disruption, with authorities warning of worsening conditions, severe flooding risks, snow, and damaging winds across several provinces. In late April, a cut-off low pressure system brought severe thunderstorms, heavy rain, and strong winds to central parts of the country, with Orange Level 6 warnings issued for several regions. Earlier in March, parts of the Western Cape and Northern Cape experienced record-breaking extreme heat, with temperatures reaching up to 44.8°C in Alexander Bay, highlighting the growing threat of extreme heat in Southern Africa. More information on active extreme weather events can be found at Extreme Weather tracker.
Sources:
Generated by Gemini from climate data and web sources
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Data Sources
Data Sources for South Africa
Every figure on this page is sourced from official, openly published climate datasets. Anomalies are calculated against the 1961–1990 baseline (temperature) and 1991–2020 (rainfall, sunshine, frost) — see the Methodology & Sources page for the complete dataset list and update calendar.
FAQs
FAQs
How is the climate in South Africa changing?
South Africa is warming in line with the rest of the world. The page above shows the latest monthly temperature anomaly versus the 1961-1990 baseline, the long-term annual trend, and the region's rank in the historical record. The trend rate is shown as °C per decade in the headline panel; you can also see the warmest and coolest years on file.
Where does the climate data for South Africa come from?
Climate data for South Africa comes from Our World in Data, sourcing Copernicus ERA5 and HadCRUT5 (national temperature anomaly) and the Global Carbon Project via Our World in Data (CO₂ emissions), refreshed every month, when the upstream temperature and rainfall data are refreshed.
What is the climate baseline used on this page?
Anomalies on this page are calculated against the 1961-1990 climatological baseline, which is the standard reference period used by the Met Office, NOAA, IPCC and most national climate services. Some panels also show the source-native 1901-2000 (NOAA) or 1991-2020 (WMO) baselines for verification. See Methodology & Sources for the full reference.
Which areas does the South Africa climate data cover?
The South Africa climate profile covers Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and surrounding areas. Temperature, rainfall and emissions data for South Africa
How often is the South Africa climate update refreshed?
The South Africa climate update is refreshed monthly, typically a few days after the previous month closes and the upstream provider (Met Office HadUK-Grid, NOAA Climate at a Glance, Copernicus ERA5 or the Global Carbon Project) publishes its update. See the Climate Rankings for cross-region comparisons.