Climate

What types of climates exist in South Africa?

The climate of South Africa is mostly described as tropical, and semiarid. Summer in South Africa is characterized mainly as hot and sunny with frequent short afternoon thunderstorms. The exception to this in in the western cape with characteristics of Mediterranean climate getting its rain during the winter. Some of the best climate is found during Autumn in South Africa with little rain fall and warm weather. Winters can bring cold nights, but are still characterized by sunny, dry days. the western cape it the only wet place during the summer as there are many cloudy, rainy days. The only place that you will find snow in South Africa would be the high mountains in the cape and Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal. Finally comes Spring, when many flowers and plants grow all over the planes. Many residents take the journey to Namaqualand in the Western and Northern Cape to see the many beautiful flowers. As we have observed South Africa does experience the four full seasons but more drastically in some places, generally it stands in between the desert and humid climate.

How uniform is the climate in South America?

As seen in the types of climates that exist in south Africa during each season, many of the climates change depending on the location.  The climates change with the different terrains that they are located in.  For example, the cape area is characteristically dry in the summer and wet during the winter while most of the rest of South Africa has afternoon thunderstorms in the summer and dry sunny days in the winter.  Overall South Africa has a wide range of climates and depending on what part you go to, the climate will change.

Sources: http://www.johannesburg.climatemps.com/
and http://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/climate.htm#.UirGusZwrng

This map is from: http://www.southern-africa.arroukatchee.fr/south-africa/climate-south-africa.htm

Seasonality: 

Taking the annual range of temperatures of Cape Town and Johannesburg and comparing them with Honolulu.  In Cape Town the average high temperature of 26 degrees Celsius in January and February and the average low temperature of 7 degrees Celsius in July makes the annual range 19 degrees Celsius.  Moving over to Johannesburg with an average high of 26 and low of 4, the annual range increases to 22 degrees Celsius.  When comparing this with Honolulu's average high of 31.5 and low of 18.6 degrees Celsius and an annual range of 12.9, you can see that it is much lower in Honolulu.  

Looking at the average annual temperatures, in Cape town it is 17 degrees Celsius and in Johannesburg it is 16 degrees Celsius, while in Honolulu it is much higher at 25.1 degrees Celsius.  What surprised me most was the average annual precipitation.  Living in Honolulu I thought we experienced our fair share of precipitation, but we actually get less at 22 inches whereas in Cape Town the average is 24.8 inches while Johannesburg's average is 33.4 inches.  As we have seen from the seasonal climates of South Africa, there is medium seasonality depending on your location, but there is definitely more than Honolulu.  

Sources: http://www.cape-town.climatemps.com/

and http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/hawaii/honolulu/