Weather in Ioánnina in December

A hard month. December asks something of you. Go in knowing what. Highs sit at 10.7 °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 Ioánnina's year. May is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 48 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is wet-season rain: 13 wet days and 5 genuinely heavy ones, which in this climate means concentrated downpours rather than all-day grey. The pattern is usually a clear morning and a loud afternoon, so front-load the day and stop fighting the 3pm hour. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 10.7 °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. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 18.3 °C and the coldest night fell to -11.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 67 mm — roughly 44% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 3 mm in the driest year against 349 mm in the wettest, around an average of 153 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 7.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 82%, which at 10.7 °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: 15.6 °C in November, 10.7 here, 9.3 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Ioánnina's year — 9.4 hours of daylight against 15 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 — 30.3 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

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 Ioánnina versus nearby

If Ioánnina is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Lárisa is a better bet in December — 2 °C warmer, 3 days less rain. Pátra is a better bet in December — 3.6 °C warmer, 1 day more rain.

So: December is a compromise. May is 44 points better and is what Ioánnina 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 Ioánnina

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