Weather in Palermo in December

Shoulder season. December sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. Highs average 15.9 °C, lows 11.1 °C, and rain falls on 13 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Palermo's year. May is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 35 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 13 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 15.9 °C days and 11.1 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 4.8 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 22 °C and the coldest night fell to 3.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 58 mm — roughly 61% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 3 mm in the driest year against 172 mm in the wettest, around an average of 95 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 13.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 81%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 19.9 °C in November, 15.9 here, 14.5 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Palermo's year — 9.5 hours of daylight against 14.8 at midsummer, holding steady all month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 16.8 °C in December — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 27.2 °C in August and bottoms out at 14.2 °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 Palermo versus nearby

If Palermo is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Catania is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Taormina is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: December is a compromise. May is 30 points better and is what Palermo 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 Palermo

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