Weather in Pretoria in December

A hard month. December is a hard month in Pretoria, and worth planning around. You should expect rain on 20 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

December ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Pretoria's year. June is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 49 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 20 of the month's 31 days, 3 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Pack for 30.5 °C days and 16.6 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 17 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 38.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 9.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 50 mm — roughly 45% of the month's rain in one day.

December is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest December on record still delivered 171 mm against 41 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 112 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 7.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 58%.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 30.5 °C in November, 30.5 here, 30.4 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain has already shifted: 5 days more than November had.

Daylight in December

December is at or near the longest days of Pretoria's year: 13.7 hours of daylight, holding steady all month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 26.3 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 1332 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

December in Pretoria versus nearby

If Pretoria is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Johannesburg is a better bet in December — 3.7 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Pietermaritzburg is a better bet in December — 2.6 °C cooler, 5 days more rain.

So: December is a compromise. June is 49 points better and is what Pretoria 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 Pretoria

See all twelve months in Pretoria, or where else to go in December.