Weather in Gothenburg in December

The month to avoid. December is the month most people should skip in Gothenburg. Highs sit at 3.8 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Gothenburg's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 51 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 16 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 3.8 °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: 10 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 2.6 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 11.1 °C and the coldest night fell to -13.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 40 mm — roughly 39% 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 182 mm against 31 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 102 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 12.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 93%, which at 3.8 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How December sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 3.2 °C cooler than November, with January dropping another 1.8 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Gothenburg's year — 6.6 hours of daylight against 18 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: 21.2 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

December in Gothenburg versus nearby

If Gothenburg is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Århus is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Linköping is close enough to be a coin toss — 3.3 °C cooler, 3 days less rain.

So: December is a compromise. July is 51 points better and is what Gothenburg 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 Gothenburg

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