Weather in Tucson in December

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, December is the one. Highs average 18.9 °C, lows 4.9 °C, and rain falls on 5 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 6 of 12 in Tucson: past the worst of the year but short of March, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain falls on only 5 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average December reaches 30 °C; 3 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 28.6 °C and the coldest night fell to -3.3 °C.

December is moderately variable: 1 mm in the driest year against 51 mm in the wettest, around an average of 25 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 50%.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 24.4 °C in November, 18.9 here, 19.4 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Tucson's year — 10.1 hours of daylight against 14.2 at midsummer, holding steady all 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 — 34.5 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 759 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly. Within December itself the daily swing is 14 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

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

December in Tucson versus nearby

If Tucson is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Phoenix is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Sedona is the weaker option in December — 7.3 °C cooler, 1 day more rain.

So: December works, with March the better month by 10 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Tucson

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