Weather in Arica in December

A good month. December is a solid month to be in Arica. Highs average 33.3 °C, lows 22.1 °C, and rain falls on 0 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 8 of 12 in Arica: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain is not a factor worth planning around this month. Pack for 33.3 °C days and 22.1 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 30 days top 30 °C, making the heat continuous rather than occasional. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 39.2 °C and the coldest night fell to 19.3 °C.

December is dependably dry, and that reliability is the point: across the twenty years measured, the wettest December on record still only managed 19 mm, and the driest managed 0 mm. There is no meaningful variability to plan around, which makes this one of the few months anywhere that you can build a fixed outdoor itinerary against without a fallback. The wettest single day in twenty years of Decembers brought 15 mm. Rain simply is not the variable that decides this trip — heat, crowds and cost are.

Wind is light at 8.9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 60%.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 33.2 °C in November, 33.3 here, 33.8 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December is at or near the longest days of Arica's year: 13.2 hours of daylight, holding steady all month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 21.9 °C in December — comfortable for a proper swim. The sea peaks at 24.3 °C in February and bottoms out at 17.1 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

December in Arica versus nearby

If Arica is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Arequipa is a better bet in December — 7.6 °C cooler, 5 days more rain. Antofagasta is a better bet in December — 13.2 °C cooler, the same number of rain days.

So: December is effectively as good as it gets here — 4 points behind June, which is inside the margin where the weather stops being the deciding factor and price starts being it.

Every month in Arica

See all twelve months in Arica, or where else to go in December.