Weather in Cebu City in December

Shoulder season. December is shoulder season in Cebu City — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. You should expect rain on 24 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

December ranks 6 of 12 in Cebu City: past the worst of the year but short of March, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 24 of the month's 31 days, 6 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Natural fibres and a second shirt for the day. At 87% nothing dries, including you.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 30.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 23 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 96 mm — roughly 48% of the month's rain in one day.

December is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest December on record still delivered 410 mm against 61 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 198 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 13.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity at 87% is the real story though — it is the number that decides how the day feels, not the 28.6 °C.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 29 °C in November, 28.6 here, 28.2 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

Cebu City sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.5 hours in December, against a range of just 1.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 7.3 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

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

December in Cebu City versus nearby

If Cebu City is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Iloilo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Cagayan de Oro is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: December works, with March the better month by 11 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Cebu City

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