Weather in Szczecin in December

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, December is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 2.1 °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 Szczecin's year. September is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 56 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 13 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 2.1 °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: 20 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen; the day barely swings — 3.9 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 12 °C and the coldest night fell to -21.4 °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 87 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 53 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 13.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 94%, which at 2.1 °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: 6.5 °C in November, 2.1 here, 0.6 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Szczecin's year — 7.5 hours of daylight against 17 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 — 27.3 °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 Szczecin versus nearby

If Szczecin is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Berlin is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Malmö is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.3 °C warmer, 2 days more rain.

So: December is a compromise. September is 54 points better and is what Szczecin 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 Szczecin

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