Weather in Hat Yai in December

Shoulder season. December is shoulder season in Hat Yai — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. You should expect rain on 22 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

December ranks 4 of 12 in Hat Yai: past the worst of the year but short of February, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 22 of the month's 31 days, 9 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: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average December reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 3.5 °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 22.8 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 112 mm — roughly 41% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 81 mm in the driest year against 615 mm in the wettest, around an average of 276 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.3 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 28.2 °C.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 28.7 °C in November, 28.2 here, 28.2 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: January brings 10 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in December

Hat Yai sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.7 hours in December, against a range of just 0.8 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 28.3 °C in December — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 30.6 °C in May and bottoms out at 27.9 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

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 Hat Yai versus nearby

If Hat Yai is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Kota Kuala Muda is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days more rain. Krabi is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain.

So: December is a compromise. February is 25 points better and is what Hat Yai 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 Hat Yai

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