Het weer in Pretoria (Tshwane) in december

Regulars are consistent that winter here on the Highveld isn't the harsh version the word suggests - sunny, dry days are the norm - but nights drop cold enough for real overnight frost, a genuine swing worth planning around. Our row backs that mild-by-day, cold-by-night read, 21.6C over 6.7C nights feeling 4C, with rain essentially absent, 4.9mm across just 1.1 days, and humidity down to 51 percent. Regulars are specific this dry stretch means clear skies are close to guaranteed for outdoor plans, jacaranda season still months off but the city's museums and Union Buildings gardens genuinely pleasant to walk without summer's afternoon storms to dodge. A warm layer for mornings and evenings is the standard packing advice, shed by midday. The record: 9.5 hours of sun, a 15.1 kph wind and AQI 90.

Regulars are direct with anyone hoping to time a visit around the city's famous jacaranda bloom this month: it's too early, with the trees only really starting to flower a couple of weeks later once the season shifts, and the well-known peak doesn't land until well into spring proper. Our row backs a mild, still-warm autumn read for the month itself, 26.1C over 13.5C nights, with 66.7mm of rain across 7.6 days - a genuine drop from the wet season's peak but not yet the dry, sparse rainfall regulars describe by the middle of winter. The record: humidity 65 percent, 9.4 hours of sun, a 14.4 kph wind and AQI 72.

The jacarandas are why regulars name this month, and they are precise about the window: mid-September into October, a little earlier here than in Johannesburg because the elevation is lower and the winters milder. In full flower the view over the centre is thousands of trees at once. September is the start of spring, so a sweater and something for the odd shower is the packing list. Our row shows why the evenings need it: 29.2C days fall to 12.7C nights, a sixteen-degree swing at 38 percent humidity, with only 13mm of rain across 2.4 days. The record: 10.7 hours of sun, a 18.9 kph wind and AQI 60.

May is the wrong month for the thing Pretoria is named for. The jacarandas that make it the Jacaranda City bloom from about mid-September into October, a little earlier here than in Johannesburg because Pretoria sits lower and has milder winters, and they do not start until the rains do - weeks after any May date. What May is instead is the start of the Highveld dry season: our row gives a 24C day over a 9.8C night, 17.9mm of rain across 2.4 days and 56 percent humidity, which is that wide-open winter sky already arriving. Regulars call May an unpredictable shoulder month and answer it with layers - t-shirt, sweater, fleece, windproof jacket - because the day and the night are effectively two climates. The record: feels-like 22C by day and 8C at night, 9.6 hours of sun and AQI 82.