Weather in Saskatoon in December

The month to avoid. December is the month most people should skip in Saskatoon. Highs sit at -7.5 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Saskatoon's year. September is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 57 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain falls on only 6 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at -7.5 °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: 31 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 7.6 °C and the coldest night fell to -36.8 °C.

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 33 mm against 7 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 19 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 11.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 90%, which at -7.5 °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: 0.2 °C in November, -7.5 here, -8.7 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Saskatoon's year — 7.8 hours of daylight against 16.7 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

Saskatoon has no sea to moderate it, and it shows: 44.7 °C separates the hottest afternoon of the year from the coldest night. That is a genuinely continental range, and it means summer and winter here are barely the same place.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

December in Saskatoon versus nearby

If Saskatoon is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Regina is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Edmonton is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: December is a compromise. September is 56 points better and is what Saskatoon 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 Saskatoon

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