Weather in Johannesburg in March

A good month. March is a solid month to be in Johannesburg. Highs average 25.7 °C, lows 11.9 °C, and rain falls on 14 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

March ranks 8 of 12 in Johannesburg: past the worst of the year but short of August, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 14 wet days but only 1 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 32.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 4.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 40 mm — roughly 55% of the month's rain in one day.

March is moderately variable: 23 mm in the driest year against 136 mm in the wettest, around an average of 73 mm. Roughly two Marchs in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 6.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 63%.

How March sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 26.9 °C in February, 25.7 here, 22.8 in April. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: April brings 6 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in March

12.3 hours of daylight, losing 0.8 hours across the month. That is between Johannesburg's extremes of 13.8 and 10.5 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 25.6 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 1767 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

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

March in Johannesburg versus nearby

If Johannesburg is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Pretoria is close enough to be a coin toss — 3.3 °C warmer, 1 day less rain. Pietermaritzburg is the weaker option in March — within a degree on temperature, 5 days more rain.

So: March is a compromise. August is 22 points better and is what Johannesburg is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Johannesburg

See all twelve months in Johannesburg, or where else to go in March.