Cape Town climate

Name: Cape Town
Address: ZA

Cape Town is warmest in February, with average highs of 26 °C, and coldest in July, when nights average 9.2 °C. June is the wettest month (92 mm) and February the driest (11 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Cape Town averages 495 mm of rain and 70 days above 25 °C.

South Africa · population 4,772,846 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month February 26 °C
Coldest month July 9.2 °C
Driest month February 11 mm
Wettest month June 92 mm
Least cloud January 23 % cloud
Hottest on record January 36 °C
Coldest on record July 2.8 °C
Warmest sea January 18 °C

What to expectCape Town through the year

Cape Town has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 16 °C in July to 26 °C in February, a swing of 8.6 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 70 days a year reach 25 °C, 11 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C, in January.

Rain is strongly seasonal. June averages 92 mm against 11 mm in February — 8.3 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Cape Town is warmest in January at 18 °C and coldest in August at 15 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	25.4 °C	12 mm	23 %
February	25.8 °C	11 mm	23 %
March	24.5 °C	12 mm	30 %
April	21.9 °C	36 mm	41 %
May	19.2 °C	57 mm	52 %
June	16.8 °C	92 mm	50 %
July	16.4 °C	84 mm	45 %
August	16.4 °C	74 mm	46 %
September	17.8 °C	44 mm	49 %
October	20.2 °C	32 mm	42 %
November	21.9 °C	25 mm	38 %
December	24.1 °C	15 mm	30 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	25.4 °C	17.3 °C	21.1 °C	36.3 °C	12.3 °C	15	3
February	25.8 °C	17.6 °C	21.3 °C	35.6 °C	13.1 °C	15	3
March	24.5 °C	16.4 °C	20.0 °C	35.9 °C	10.3 °C	12	2
April	21.9 °C	14.1 °C	17.6 °C	34.8 °C	7.3 °C	6	1
May	19.2 °C	12.0 °C	15.4 °C	28.6 °C	6.2 °C	2	0
June	16.8 °C	9.9 °C	13.2 °C	25.4 °C	4.3 °C	0	0
July	16.4 °C	9.2 °C	12.7 °C	26.1 °C	2.8 °C	0	0
August	16.4 °C	9.5 °C	12.9 °C	26.0 °C	3.5 °C	0	0
September	17.8 °C	10.7 °C	14.2 °C	32.8 °C	5.7 °C	1	0
October	20.2 °C	12.7 °C	16.3 °C	34.4 °C	7.5 °C	3	0
November	21.9 °C	14.2 °C	17.9 °C	33.7 °C	8.6 °C	6	0
December	24.1 °C	16.2 °C	20.0 °C	35.9 °C	10.2 °C	10	1

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	12 mm	2	14 h/day	23 %	70 %	26 km/h	17.5 °C
February	11 mm	2	13 h/day	23 %	71 %	25 km/h	17.5 °C
March	12 mm	3	12 h/day	30 %	72 %	23 km/h	16.7 °C
April	36 mm	5	11 h/day	41 %	76 %	20 km/h	15.5 °C
May	57 mm	7	10 h/day	52 %	80 %	18 km/h	15.3 °C
June	92 mm	10	9.9 h/day	50 %	81 %	20 km/h	15.0 °C
July	84 mm	9	10 h/day	45 %	80 %	19 km/h	14.6 °C
August	74 mm	9	11 h/day	46 %	80 %	20 km/h	14.5 °C
September	44 mm	7	12 h/day	49 %	78 %	21 km/h	14.8 °C
October	32 mm	5	13 h/day	42 %	73 %	23 km/h	15.2 °C
November	25 mm	4	14 h/day	38 %	70 %	25 km/h	16.1 °C
December	15 mm	3	14 h/day	30 %	69 %	25 km/h	17.1 °C

How Cape Town compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Cape Town	26 °C	9.2 °C	495 mm	70
Somerset West · South Africa	27 °C	9.0 °C	767 mm	101
Paarl · South Africa	31 °C	7.2 °C	815 mm	162
George · South Africa	24 °C	8.8 °C	626 mm	39

Where Cape Town ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in Africa in August	1st of 50	16 °C
The coolest places in Africa in September	1st of 50	18 °C
The coolest places in Africa in July	3rd of 50	16 °C
The coolest places in Africa in October	5th of 50	20 °C
The coolest places in Africa in May	6th of 50	19 °C
The coolest places in Africa in June	7th of 50	17 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Cape Town.

QuestionsCommon questions about Cape Town’s climate

When is the best time to visit Cape Town?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. January, March, December sit closest to 20 °C on average, February is the warmest month and February the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Cape Town get?

In February, the warmest month, daily highs average 26 °C. About 11 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 9.2 °C in July, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Cape Town?

June, averaging 92 mm over 10 days with rain. The driest month is February with 11 mm. The year as a whole averages 495 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Cape Town rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: -33.926°, 18.423° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.