Weather in Nanjing in December

A hard month. December asks something of you. Go in knowing what. Highs sit at 9.6 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 9 of 12 in Nanjing: past the worst of the year but short of October, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 7 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 9.6 °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: 18 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 21.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -10 °C.

December is moderately variable: 5 mm in the driest year against 124 mm in the wettest, around an average of 42 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 75%, which at 9.6 °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: 7.5 °C cooler than November, with January dropping another 2.1 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Nanjing's year — 10.1 hours of daylight against 14.2 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 — 34.2 °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 Nanjing versus nearby

If Nanjing is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Hangzhou is a better bet in December — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Shanghai is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: December is a compromise. October is 38 points better and is what Nanjing 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 Nanjing

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