Weather in Edinburgh in December

The month to avoid. December is the month most people should skip in Edinburgh. Highs sit at 6.2 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Edinburgh's year. August is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 37 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 16 wet days but only 1 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 6.2 °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: 6 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 3.7 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 13.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -5.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 29 mm — roughly 40% 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 155 mm against 35 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 72 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 16.3 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 94%, which at 6.2 °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: 8.6 °C in November, 6.2 here, 5.7 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Edinburgh's year — 7 hours of daylight against 17.6 at midsummer, losing 0.5 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 16.3 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

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

December in Edinburgh versus nearby

If Edinburgh is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Glasgow is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days more rain. Manchester is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: December is a compromise. August is 34 points better and is what Edinburgh is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Edinburgh

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