Weather in Tangier in December

A good month. December works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 16.7 °C, lows 13.4 °C, and rain falls on 9 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 9 of 12 in Tangier: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 9 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 16.7 °C days and 13.4 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 3.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 20.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 7.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 54 mm — roughly 57% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. December rainfall has ranged from 8 mm to 344 mm across the twenty years measured — a 336 mm spread around an average of 94 mm. The average is real but almost no individual December looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind is light at 15 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 80%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 18.8 °C in November, 16.7 here, 15.9 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Tangier's year — 9.8 hours of daylight against 14.6 at midsummer, holding steady all month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 18 °C in December — swimmable, but it takes a moment to commit. The sea peaks at 22.9 °C in August and bottoms out at 16.2 °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

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 Tangier versus nearby

If Tangier is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Chefchaouen is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Málaga is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: December is a compromise. July is 29 points better and is what Tangier 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 Tangier

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