Weather in Pretoria in November

Shoulder season. November sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. You should expect rain on 15 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 10 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.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 15 wet days but only 2 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Pack for 30.5 °C days and 15.2 °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; the day swings 15.3 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 39.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 6.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 52 mm — roughly 66% of the month's rain in one day.

November is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest November on record still delivered 149 mm against 9 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 79 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 8.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 52%.

How November sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 30.6 °C in October, 30.5 here, 30.5 in December. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: December brings 5 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in November

November is at or near the longest days of Pretoria's year: 13.4 hours of daylight, gaining 0.6 hours across the 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. Within November itself the daily swing is 15.3 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

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.

November in Pretoria versus nearby

If Pretoria is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Johannesburg is a better bet in November — 3.5 °C cooler, 1 day more rain. Pietermaritzburg is close enough to be a coin toss — 3.6 °C cooler, 7 days more rain.

So: November is a compromise. June is 41 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 November.