The climate of Pretoria
Cwa Humid subtropical with dry winter. Hot, wet summers and dry, mild winters. A monsoon-influenced subtropical climate. Most of the rain falls in the hot summer, and winters are noticeably drier.
Pretoria is south of the equator, so its seasons run the opposite way to those in Europe: summer falls in December to February and winter in June to August. The 1901 to 1930 map put Pretoria in Cwb (subtropical highland (dry winter)), so its zone is different from a century ago.
Pretoria: then, now and by 2100
| Map | Climate zone | Compared with now |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 to 1930 | Cwb Subtropical highland (dry winter) | Different from now |
| 1991 to 2020 (now) | Cwa Humid subtropical with dry winter | - |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP1-2.6 (low emissions) | Cwa Humid subtropical with dry winter | Same as now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP2-4.5 (middle of the road) | BSh Hot semi-arid (steppe) | Different from now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP5-8.5 (high emissions) | BSh Hot semi-arid (steppe) | Different from now |
The 2071 to 2099 rows are model projections under three emissions scenarios, not forecasts. The 1901 to 1930 row is a reconstruction. All come from Beck et al. (2023).
Under the middle-of-the-road scenario (SSP2-4.5), the model puts Pretoria in BSh (hot semi-arid (steppe)) in 2071 to 2099, instead of Cwa now. Under the high-emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5) it is BSh (hot semi-arid (steppe)).
Cities with the same climate as Pretoria
Other big cities that are Cwa (humid subtropical with dry winter) in 1991 to 2020, at most two per country:
- Chengdu, China
- Guangzhou, China
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Hanoi, Vietnam
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- New Territories, Hong Kong
- Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- Busan, South Korea
Where Pretoria's future climate exists today
In the SSP2-4.5 map for 2071 to 2099, Pretoria is BSh. These cities are BSh in 1991 to 2020, so they give a rough idea of the future climate (the real conditions would differ in many ways).
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Population of Pretoria from GeoNames: 2,112,693 (rank 206 in our list of 1,000). Climate data: Beck et al. (2023), CC BY 4.0. Data sources and licences.