Weather in Prince George in December

The month to avoid. December is the month most people should skip in Prince George. Highs sit at -4.6 °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 Prince George's year. August is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 70 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 14 wet days but only 1 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at -4.6 °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: 30 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 6.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -38 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 26 mm — roughly 38% 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 145 mm against 19 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 68 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 1.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 98%, which at -4.6 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 0.6 °C in November, -4.6 here, -4.3 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Prince George's year — 7.4 hours of daylight against 17.1 at midsummer, losing 0.4 hours across the 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 — 34.5 °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 Prince George versus nearby

If Prince George is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Jasper is a better bet in December — within a degree on temperature, 5 days less rain. Whistler is the weaker option in December — 4.8 °C warmer, 6 days more rain.

So: December is a compromise. August is 67 points better and is what Prince George 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 Prince George

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