Editing Pretoria (section)

==Geography==
Pretoria is situated approximately {{cvt|56|km|mi}} north-northeast of [[Johannesburg]] in the northeast of [[South Africa]], in a transitional belt between the plateau of the [[Highveld]] to the south and the lower-lying [[Bushveld]] to the north. It lies at an altitude of about {{cvt|1,339|m|ft}} [[Above mean sea level|above sea level]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm |title=Elevation Finder |first=Free Map |last=Tools |access-date=5 July 2014 |archive-date=26 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626104315/http://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of the [[Magaliesberg]] range.

===Climate===
[[File:Magaliesberg08.jpg|thumb|The city is surrounded by the [[Magaliesberg]] range.|295x295px]]
Pretoria has a monsoon-influenced [[humid subtropical climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: [[Humid subtropical climate|Cwa]]) with long hot, rainy summers, and short, dry and mild winters. The city experiences the typical winters of South Africa, with cold, clear nights and mild to moderately warm days. Although the average lows during winter are mild, it can get cold due to the clear skies, with night time low temperatures in recent years in the range of {{cvt|2|to|-5|C}}.

The average annual temperature is {{cvt|18.7|°C}}.<ref>GHCN climate data, 30-year climate average 1979–2008, Goddard Institute of Space Studies</ref> This is rather high, considering the city's relatively high altitude of about {{convert|1,339|m|abbr=off}}, and is due mainly to its sheltered valley position, which acts as a heat trap and cuts it off from cool southerly and south-easterly air masses for much of the year.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Rain is chiefly concentrated in the summer months, with drought conditions prevailing over the winter months, when frosts may be sharp. Snowfall is an extremely rare event; snowflakes were spotted in 1959, 1968 and 2012 in the city, but the city has never experienced an accumulation in its history.

During a nationwide [[heat wave]] in November 2011, Pretoria experienced temperatures that reached {{cvt|39|°C|°F|0}}, unusual for that time of the year. Similar record-breaking extreme heat events also occurred in January 2013, when Pretoria experienced temperatures exceeding {{cvt|37|°C|°F|0}} on several days. The year 2014 was one of the wettest on record for the city. A total of {{cvt|914|mm|0}} fell up to the end of December, with {{cvt|220|mm|0}} recorded in this month alone. In 2015, Pretoria saw its worst drought since 1982; the month of November 2015 saw new records broken for high temperatures, with {{cvt|43|°C|°F|0}} recorded on 11 November after three weeks of temperatures between {{cvt|35|°C|°F|0}} and {{cvt|43|°C|°F|0}}. Pretoria reached a new record high of {{cvt|42.7|C}} on 7 January 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.weathersa.co.za/Documents/Corporate/Regional%20Weather%20and%20Climate_Gauteng_16042021150251.pdf |title=South African Weather Service - Regional Weather and Climate of South Africa: Gauteng |access-date=20 January 2022 |archive-date=22 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122002436/https://www.weathersa.co.za/Documents/Corporate/Regional%20Weather%20and%20Climate_Gauteng_16042021150251.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Pretoria weatherbox}}