Much of the Coastal Strip has hot, humid summers and dry, sunny winters. In the Plateau, summer days are hot, but the nights are cool. The winter is cold. The deserts are hot and dry. Only about a fourth of South Africa receives more than 64 centimeters of rain yearly.
More rain falls in the east than in the west.
Avoid the south western Cape in winter, where rain driven by cold winds often falls for days at a time. Other parts of the country are either drought-stricken, or they have their rainy season in summer. Natal and the Highveld have summer-afternoon thunderstorms which tend to be short downpurs accompanied by lightning. Most parts of the country have few very noteworthy patterns of prevailing winds. The exceptions are the Cape Peninsula and the southern Cape coasts.