Weather in Chongqing in December

A good month. December is a solid month to be in Chongqing. Highs sit at 12.9 °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 Chongqing: 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 6 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 12.9 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 20.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -4.6 °C.

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 41 mm against 9 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 21 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 79%, which at 12.9 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 18.6 °C in November, 12.9 here, 11.9 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Chongqing's year — 10.3 hours of daylight against 14 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 — 30.5 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

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

December in Chongqing versus nearby

If Chongqing is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Chengdu is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain. Xi’an is the weaker option in December — 4.7 °C cooler, 4 days less rain.

So: December works, with March the better month by 15 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Chongqing

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