Today
Has it rained enough in Cape Town?
Rain soaked properly in 2 days ago, and the ground is still holding some of it.
Cape Town has had 52.9mm of rain in the last 30 days. A normal September here brings 45.2mm, so the ground is roughly where it should be for the time of year.
Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
15 SeptToday
Reached the roots
Rain that did not
2 days of 14
Thirty years
Rain in Cape Town through a normal year
Across a normal year Cape Town gets about 522.3mm of rain, most of it in June (94.1mm) and least in February (11.2mm).
A normal September in Cape Town has rain on 10 days. Only 6 of them bring enough to reach a root.
That makes Cape Town one of the wetter places this site covers in South Africa in September — 3rd of 8, against Durban at the wet end (64.7mm) and Polokwane at the dry end (11.6mm).
JFebMAMJunJASOND
Average rainfall by month, 1995–2024
What it means
What that means for what you grow
- Pots and hanging basketsWorst hit, and first to suffer. Very little soil, fully exposed, and nothing to fall back on — in this weather they can empty in a day.
- Salad and leafy vegShallow-rooted and quick to bolt once they run dry. First priority of anything in the ground.
- Beds and bordersA long soak that reaches the roots is worth more than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and is gone by lunchtime.
- Established shrubs and treesFine as they are. They draw from far deeper than a dry spell reaches.