Alpha Airfield

FBAL · Lobatse, Botswana

Climate Alpha Airfield 2020-2024

Climate and trends: average temperature, flight conditions, precipitation, wind speed and direction.

Calculated from historical METAR data of Mmabatho International Airport (FAMM) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 84.8 77 91 81 75 81
February 81.0 79 73 85 73 84
March 84.1 84 68 78 80 81
April 83.3 85 78 86 75
May 89.0 76 88 91 82
June 89.6 82 89 86 81
July 90.8 82 92 89 87
August 90.8 82 88 91 88
September 92.7 87 98 93 82
October 87.9 81 94 86 81
November 83.1 79 79 87 77
December 79.9 65 83 81 74
Average 85.6 79.7 79.1 85.9 84.4 80.8

9th best VFR conditions of South Africa

VFR conditions during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the VFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 8 km or more and a ceiling of 3,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Marginal VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 91.0 80 95 90 83 88
February 91.4 83 93 86 90 90
March 89.4 85 77 89 87 87
April 90.3 88 91 88 83
May 91.0 80 92 92 82
June 91.4 83 94 89 83
July 91.9 85 93 89 87
August 92.4 83 93 94 88
September 93.7 89 98 94 84
October 92.2 85 95 95 88
November 87.3 81 93 92 83
December 87.9 75 94 93 81
Average 90.0 82.4 84.4 92.1 90.6 85.3

Marginal VFR conditions or better during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the MVFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 5 km or more and a ceiling of 1,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 30.3 31 31 28 28 30
February 29.6 33 28 31 28 31
March 29.0 32 28 26 28 28
April 25.9 27 23 28 25
May 24.1 24 23 24 24
June 21.7 23 20 21 20
July 21.4 21 22 20 21
August 24.6 25 24 24 23
September 28.7 29 29 29 28
October 30.2 31 31 28 31
November 30.9 32 28 32 30
December 30.4 32 29 27 30
Average 27.7 32.0 27.5 25.9 26.3 26.6

5th highest temperature of South Africa

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 18.0 18 17 17 18 18
February 17.5 18 17 17 17 18
March 15.6 17 16 15 14 15
April 12.0 12 11 11 12
May 7.3 9 7 6 7
June 4.2 4 4 5 2
July 3.9 4 6 2 2
August 6.9 6 6 8 4
September 10.0 11 11 12 4
October 14.6 15 17 13 16
November 16.3 17 16 16 16
December 17.6 18 17 16 18
Average 12.6 17.7 12.0 11.7 11.3 10.9

11th lowest temperature of South Africa

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 1.5 1 0 2 4 1
February 3.5 0 4 0 8 1
March 1.8 0 0 4 0 4
April 2.0 0 5 0 2
May 0.4 0 1 0 0
June 0.4 0 1 2 1
July 0.1 0 1 0 0
August 0.0 0 0 0 0
September 0.0 0 0 0 0
October 0.7 1 1 0 2
November 1.1 1 3 0 2
December 2.5 2 2 2 0
Average 1.1 0.3 0.7 1.7 1.4 1.1

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (knots)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 7.6 7 7 8 7 7
February 6.8 8 6 7 6 7
March 6.9 8 8 7 6 7
April 6.5 7 7 6 7
May 5.8 8 6 5 5
June 6.7 7 7 7 6
July 7.3 9 7 7 7
August 8.8 9 9 9 9
September 9.2 9 9 11 9
October 9.3 10 10 11 9
November 9.5 10 8 11 9
December 9.0 10 8 9 9
Average 7.8 7.6 8.2 7.8 8.1 7.5

5th highest wind speed of South Africa

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 016° 040° 041° 047° 024°
February 009° 041° 033° 048° 031°
March 012° 014° 032° 359° 028°
April 002° 030° 030° 015°
May 015° 023° 004° 021°
June 350° 049° 023° 052°
July 033° 030° 030° 039°
August 036° 021° 017° 009°
September 344° 023° 029° 024°
October 025° 025° 028° 019°
November 023° 014° 354° 016°
December 020° 021° 012° 026°

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.