Weather in Tromsø in December

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, December is the one to avoid. Highs sit at -3.5 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Tromsø's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 50 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 19 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at -3.5 °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: 29 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen; the day barely swings — 4.8 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 5.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -22.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 28 mm — roughly 23% 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 200 mm against 25 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 124 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 8.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 96%, which at -3.5 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How December sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 2.1 °C cooler than November, with January dropping another 2 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in December

The sun does not rise. December in Tromsø is polar night — a band of twilight around midday and darkness either side of it. That is either the entire reason to come or the entire reason not to, and there is not much middle ground.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 26.3 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

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 Tromsø versus nearby

If Tromsø is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Rovaniemi is a better bet in December — 2.8 °C cooler, 4 days less rain. Umeå is a better bet in December — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain.

So: December is a compromise. July is 50 points better and is what Tromsø 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 Tromsø

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