Max (Celsius)

Min (Celsius)

Rainfall (mm)

AIRHEAD

29.8

24.6

2.9

TRAVELLERS

29.9

22.8

9.8

RESIDENCY

25.4

19.8

n/a

GEORGETOWN

n/a

n/a

n/a

ST. HELENA

20.5

15.2

22.6

FALKLANDS

9.0

-1.2

2.2

UK (Brize Norton)

21.0

13.3

16.6

UK

An unsettled week with a number of frontal systems passing through the UK bringing a fair amount of wet weather at times.  There were also a number of heavy and occasionally thundery showers which gave locally high rainfall totals of 15-20 mm in an hour.

Falklands

A cold, but mostly fine and dry start to the week.  By mid-week it turned more unsettled with thick cloud and drizzle and strong NW’ly winds.

Ascension

A typical week with lots of sunny and dry weather with the odd isolated shower.  Wednesday afternoon was particularly wet with 1.7mm of rain falling and unfortunately the Queen’s Birthday celebrations at The Residence on Saturday night didn’t escape the odd heavy downpour.

St. Helena

A mostly cloudy week with regular showers and occasional sunny intervals.  A particularly wet day on Thursday with 9.6 mm falling, mostly during the daytime.

Well, with the football World Cup successfully kicking off last Friday it seems apt to explore what impacts, if any, the weather may have on the tournament over the next month.  South Africa is pretty well known for having one of the best climates in the world with deep blue sunny skies, but it is a large country with weather that can range greatly from east to west coast due to topographic and oceanographic influences.  The majority of the host cities are located in an area of South Africa known as the ‘highveld’ which is a high plateau region at least 1200 m above sea level, with the stadiums in Johannesburg at about 1750 m.  The rainy season is during the summer months which is a good thing with the tournament taking place in the winter, however with that comes the cold night time temperatures (falling to -10C in places) and frosts which are common on the highveld.  Very rarely snow falls during the winter months too with the last snow in June 2007 when 10cm was recorded in places – that would be an interesting twist to Africa’s first World Cup! 

The remainder of the host cities are situated at sea level.  Durban and Port Elizabeth, on the east coast have balmy sub tropical climates and are mild and mostly dry in winter with frost rarely occurring.  Port Elizabeth is however also known as the Windy City due to a lack of any sheltering from the sea and this could test the skill of some of the best teams!  Finally, Cape Town, on the west coast has a more Mediterranean climate with dry warm summers but cool, wet and sometimes windy winters.  Most of the city’s annual rain falls in winter so many of the English fans will feel right at home!