Weather in Durban in April

Prime time. April is about as good as Durban gets. Highs average 24.4 °C, lows 22.3 °C, and rain falls on 10 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

April ranks 6 of 12 in Durban: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 10 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average April reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest April day reached 29.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 18.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 35 mm — roughly 54% of the month's rain in one day.

April is moderately variable: 23 mm in the driest year against 154 mm in the wettest, around an average of 65 mm. Roughly two Aprils in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 19.9 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 77%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How April sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 25.5 °C in March, 24.4 here, 23.3 in May. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: May brings 5 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in April

11.4 hours of daylight, losing 0.8 hours across the month. That is between Durban's extremes of 14 and 10.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 25.9 °C in April — warm enough to stay in as long as you like. The sea peaks at 26.9 °C in February and bottoms out at 22 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

April in Durban versus nearby

If Durban is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Pietermaritzburg is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Johannesburg is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: April works, with June the better month by 13 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Durban

See all twelve months in Durban, or where else to go in April.