Weather in Chengdu in December

A good month. December works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs sit at 12.2 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

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

Rain falls on only 3 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 12.2 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 7 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 18.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -5.3 °C.

December is moderately variable: 4 mm in the driest year against 26 mm in the wettest, around an average of 11 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 5.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 74%.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 17.7 °C in November, 12.2 here, 11.3 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Chengdu's year — 10.2 hours of daylight against 14.1 at midsummer, holding steady all month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 31.9 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

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 Chengdu versus nearby

If Chengdu is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Chongqing is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days more rain. Xi’an is the weaker option in December — 4 °C cooler, 1 day less rain.

So: December works, with March the better month by 14 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Chengdu

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