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Climate in Johannesburg and
on the Highveld
Due to the height of 1753 m above sea-level, the climate in Johannesburg and on the Highveld is nice throughout the year. The favourable climate is one of Johannesburg’s main attractions. Many local residents, who enjoy annual holidays at the coast, would never consider living in hot, humid Durban or cold, wet Cape Town year round. In summer, the days are not too hot and the nights pleasantly cool. In winter, the nights can be quite cold, even below zero, but during the day the sun shines and lets the temperatures rise up to 25 degrees. Rainfall is to be expected only in summer from October to March.
Otherwise the dry climate of the African interior high-plateau, the Highveld, is dominant. Johannesburg gets an annual average of between eight and ten hours of sunshine per day. The weather only gets nasty in Johannesburg when the strong winds of August blow over the Highveld and the loose sands of the mine-dumps whirl through the air and cover the city in a yellow haze of dust. In Pretoria, about 60 km north of Johannesburg, it is always two or three degrees warmer due to the lower altitude of only 1365 metres above sea-level. (Usually a difference of 100 m in elevation corresponds to 1 degree Celsius difference in temperature.)
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