Weather in Positano in December

Shoulder season. December sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. Highs sit at 14.9 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of Positano's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 38 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. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 14.9 °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: the day barely swings — 2.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 19.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 3.7 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 51 mm — roughly 50% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 2 mm in the driest year against 192 mm in the wettest, around an average of 101 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 17.5 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity is unremarkable at 74%.

How December sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 3.3 °C cooler than November, with January dropping another 1.7 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Positano's year — 9.3 hours of daylight against 15.1 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 16.9 °C in December — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 26.7 °C in August and bottoms out at 14.3 °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 Positano versus nearby

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

So: December is a compromise. July is 32 points better and is what Positano 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 Positano

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