Weather in Ballarat in December

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, December is the one. Highs average 25 °C, lows 9.7 °C, and rain falls on 7 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 3 of 12 in Ballarat. Only February scores clearly higher, and the difference is small enough to be settled by price rather than weather.

Rain on 7 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 6 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break; the day swings 15.4 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 42.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 3.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 37 mm — roughly 86% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 9 mm in the driest year against 79 mm in the wettest, around an average of 43 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 10.8 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

The month is on the way up: 2.8 °C warmer than November, and January adds another 3.1 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in December

December is at or near the longest days of Ballarat's year: 14.7 hours of daylight, holding steady all month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 24.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. Within December itself the daily swing is 15.4 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

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 Ballarat versus nearby

If Ballarat is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Bendigo is close enough to be a coin toss — 3 °C warmer, 1 day less rain. Melbourne is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: December is effectively as good as it gets here — 2 points behind February, which is inside the margin where the weather stops being the deciding factor and price starts being it.

Every month in Ballarat

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