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Climate · Cape Town

Cape Town in May

Warm and mostly dry, as the days shorten.

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years

May in Cape Town is warm: highs near 70°F, lows near 54°F. Rain falls on about two days a week, more often as the month goes on, and the days shorten by 39 minutes from the first week to the last.May in Cape Town is warm: highs near 21°C, lows near 12°C. Rain falls on about two days a week, more often as the month goes on, and the days shorten by 39 minutes from the first week to the last.

High
70°F21°Caverage
Low
54°F12°Caverage
Wet days
2a week · 26% of days
Daylight
10h 23mon average

Is May a good time to visit Cape Town?

A good month, just outside Cape Town's best months, which run from December to March.

How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 70°F to 80°F, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 21°C to 27°C, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.

How May sits in the year

week by week

Temperature

Highs near 70°F in May, against 65°F to 82°F through the year.Highs near 21°C in May, against 18°C to 28°C through the year.

Chance of a wet day

26% of days in May, against 10% to 37% through the year.

Cloud cover

44% cover in May, against 16% to 44% through the year.

Daylight

10h 23m in May, against 9h 56m to 14h 22m through the year.

Week by week, lightly smoothed, with May shaded. The olive line marks the best months. Hover or tap a week for its figures.

Either side

  1. April75°24°low 58°low 14°1 wet day a weekRain on about one day a week.
  2. May70°21°low 54°low 12°2 wet days a weekRain on about two days a week.
  3. June66°19°low 50°low 10°3 wet days a weekRain on about three days a week.

Where Cape Town sits, in May

Africa/Johannesburg
this place
typical high in May 40°F4°C95°F35°C
Sunrise, mid-May
7:31 AMsets 5:54 PM
Above the sea
20 mlow-lying
Latitude
33.9°Ssouthern hemisphere
Nearest of ours
Franschhoek64 km east

The land around Cape Town, shaded by its typical high in May, the planning map's own layer. Hover the map for the figure at that spot; tap it on a phone. Clock times are local, for the 15th.

Elsewhere in South Africa in May

high · low · wet days
See May on the planning mapThe whole year in Cape Town

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years (1995–2024), read 8 km north-east of Cape Town. Its own grid square is mostly sea and holds only a daily average, so the page reads the nearest square with a true high and low near the town's height. Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 3.1°F cold in the source data and are raised to match.Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 1.7°C cold in the source data and are raised to match. Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not. Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.

Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not.

Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.