Weather in Stavanger in December

The month to avoid. December is the month most people should skip in Stavanger. Highs sit at 5.2 °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 Stavanger's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 44 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 22 of the month's 31 days, 8 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. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 5.2 °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: 6 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 2.4 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 10.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -8.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 76 mm — roughly 35% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 37 mm in the driest year against 414 mm in the wettest, around an average of 217 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 16.1 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 88%, which at 5.2 °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: 7.5 °C in November, 5.2 here, 3.8 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Stavanger's year — 6.3 hours of daylight against 18.4 at midsummer, losing 0.6 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 17.2 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

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 Stavanger versus nearby

If Stavanger is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Kristiansand is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain. Bergen is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.4 °C cooler, 1 day more rain.

So: December is a compromise. July is 41 points better and is what Stavanger 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 Stavanger

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