Pietermaritzburg weather by month & the best time to visit
🇿🇦 South Africa · city break · oceanic / maritime climate
The best time to visit Pietermaritzburg is June — its sunniest month (Sunshine Score 91/100), with May and July close behind. Pietermaritzburg averages about 2,600 hours of sunshine a year. Daytime highs around 20°C / 68°F and roughly 20 mm of rain in June.
Jump to: month-by-month table · nearby alternatives · embed this data
- Sun hours / year
- 2,600
- Sunniest month
- June
- Peak score
- 91/100
- Rain / year
- 1,169 mm
- Midday UV at peak
- 10 (very high)
- Population
- 839k
- Elevation
- 728 m
When is the best time to visit Pietermaritzburg?
For sunshine, the best time to visit Pietermaritzburg is June, then May and July. The dullest month is January (67/100, 184 mm of rain). The full month-by-month picture is in the table below.
How sunny is Pietermaritzburg?
Pietermaritzburg gets a lot of sun: around 2,600 hours a year. June (91/100) is noticeably better than January (67). It ranks #17 of 21 destinations in South Africa for annual sunshine, below the national median of 2,871 hours. Rain has a clear season: the wettest stretch, around December, carries about 45% of the annual 1,169 mm.
Sunshine Score by month
| Month | Score | Day high | Night low | Rain | UV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67 | 27° / 81°F | 16° / 61°F | 184 mm | 10 |
| February | 68 | 27° / 81°F | 16° / 61°F | 145 mm | 10 |
| March | 73 | 26° / 79°F | 15° / 59°F | 118 mm | 9 |
| April | 81 | 23° / 73°F | 12° / 54°F | 72 mm | 6 |
| May | 89 | 22° / 72°F | 10° / 50°F | 28 mm | 5 |
| June | 91 | 20° / 68°F | 7° / 45°F | 20 mm | 4 |
| July | 89 | 20° / 68°F | 6° / 43°F | 28 mm | 4 |
| August | 88 | 22° / 72°F | 8° / 46°F | 33 mm | 5 |
| September | 81 | 24° / 75°F | 10° / 50°F | 72 mm | 6 |
| October | 71 | 25° / 77°F | 12° / 54°F | 127 mm | 8 |
| November | 67 | 25° / 77°F | 13° / 55°F | 162 mm | 9 |
| December | 67 | 26° / 79°F | 15° / 59°F | 180 mm | 10 |
See Pietermaritzburg on the interactive sunshine globe →
Nearby places for sunshine
- Durban South Africa · 70 km · best in Jun · 2,503 h sun/yr
- Johannesburg South Africa · 444 km · best in Aug · 3,287 h sun/yr
- Maputo Mozambique · 466 km · best in Jul · 2,689 h sun/yr
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) South Africa · 661 km · best in May · 2,989 h sun/yr
- Gaborone Botswana · 719 km · best in Jul · 3,481 h sun/yr
- Cape Town South Africa · 1,213 km · best in Feb · 3,482 h sun/yr
Nearest destinations
- Margate South Africa · 134 km · 2,327 h sun/yr · best in Jun
- Richards Bay South Africa · 193 km · 2,540 h sun/yr · best in Jun
- Mthatha South Africa · 268 km · 2,871 h sun/yr · best in May
- Maseru(Mazenod) Lesotho · 276 km · 3,475 h sun/yr · best in Sep
- Mkuze South Africa · 276 km · 2,582 h sun/yr · best in Jun
Put the Pietermaritzburg sunshine badge on your site
A compact badge showing Pietermaritzburg's sunshine at a glance — free to embed under CC BY 4.0. Paste this wherever you'd like it to appear:
Live preview — this is exactly what your readers see: