Weather in Melbourne in December

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, December is the one. Highs average 23.9 °C, lows 13.3 °C, and rain falls on 9 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 5 of 12 in Melbourne: past the worst of the year but short of January, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 9 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 4 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 39.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 8 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 41 mm — roughly 68% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 19 mm in the driest year against 142 mm in the wettest, around an average of 60 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 12.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 66%.

How December sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.1 °C warmer than November, and January adds another 2.3 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in December

December is at or near the longest days of Melbourne's year: 14.8 hours of daylight, holding steady all month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 19.2 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

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

December in Melbourne versus nearby

If Melbourne is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Ballarat is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Bendigo is close enough to be a coin toss — 4.1 °C warmer, 3 days less rain.

So: December is effectively as good as it gets here — 4 points behind January, which is inside the margin where the weather stops being the deciding factor and price starts being it.

Every month in Melbourne

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