Weather in Singapore in December

Shoulder season. December is shoulder season in Singapore — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. You should expect rain on 26 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

Singapore barely has seasons. December scores 52 out of 100 against a best of 61 in February — a gap small enough that the month you choose matters far less here than the week you choose.

Rain on 26 of the month's 31 days, 10 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Natural fibres and a second shirt for the day. At 88% nothing dries, including you.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 3.7 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 31 °C and the coldest night fell to 23.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 150 mm — roughly 50% 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 694 mm against 140 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 301 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 8.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity at 88% is the real story though — it is the number that decides how the day feels, not the 28.4 °C.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 29.1 °C in November, 28.4 here, 28.5 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: January brings 7 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in December

Singapore sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12 hours in December, against a range of just 0.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 28.4 °C in December — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 30.1 °C in May and bottoms out at 27.4 °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

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself. December is the value pick for Singapore: it scores within 9 points of February without carrying February's prices.

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

December in Singapore versus nearby

If Singapore is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Pekanbaru is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Kuantan is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: December works, with February the better month by 9 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Singapore

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