Weather in Makassar in December

Shoulder season. December sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. You should expect rain on 29 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

December ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of Makassar's year. August is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 33 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 29 of the month's 31 days, 12 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 83% nothing dries, including you.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 8 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break; 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 34.5 °C and the coldest night fell to 25.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 169 mm — roughly 46% 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 683 mm against 157 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 370 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 9.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 83%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 31.4 °C in November, 29.3 here, 28.6 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain has already shifted: 7 days more than November had.

Daylight in December

Makassar sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.4 hours in December, against a range of just 0.6 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29.7 °C in December — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 29.9 °C in April and bottoms out at 28 °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 Makassar versus nearby

If Makassar is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Labuan Bajo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Denpasar is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: December is a compromise. August is 26 points better and is what Makassar 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 Makassar

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