Climate averages 1991–2020
Ōtsu weather
in December.
A cool, moderately wet month: the 10th warmest and the 2nd driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a cool month in Ōtsu: daytime highs average 9.5°C and nights cool to about 1.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the 10th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 65 mm of rain on roughly 8 days, which makes December a moderately wet month (the 2nd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 51 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Kusatsu (9 km away). In December its highs average 9.7°C, about as warm as Ōtsu, with 58 mm of rain.
Among the 303 cities listed in Japan, Ōtsu ranks joint 220th of 303 for the warmest December highs and joint 126th of 303 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 303 cities is 9.5°C; Ōtsu is level with that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 2.5°C to 7.0°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 65 mm to 64 mm.
The annual picture
December in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Ōtsu climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.0°C-0.5°C | -0.5°C | 64 | 7.9 | 10.110 h |
| February | 8.0°C-0.3°C | -0.3°C | 71 | 9.0 | 10.911 h |
| March | 11.8°C2.3°C | 2.3°C | 122 | 12.4 | 11.912 h |
| April | 17.3°C7.3°C | 7.3°C | 133 | 11.7 | 13.013 h |
| May | 22.1°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 153 | 11.6 | 14.014 h |
| June | 25.4°C17.2°C | 17.2°C | 205 | 14.6 | 14.514 h |
| July | 29.0°C21.6°C | 21.6°C | 239 | 17.6 | 14.314 h |
| August | 30.5°C22.7°C | 22.7°C | 140 | 13.5 | 13.513 h |
| September | 26.3°C18.9°C | 18.9°C | 187 | 12.9 | 12.412 h |
| October | 20.6°C12.8°C | 12.8°C | 161 | 9.9 | 11.311 h |
| November | 15.0°C7.0°C | 7.0°C | 84 | 7.6 | 10.410 h |
| December, selected | 9.5°C1.8°C | 1.8°C | 65 | 7.6 | 9.910 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
December in nearby cities
- Kusatsu in DecemberJapan · 9 kmHigh 9.7°C · Low 2.1°C · 58 mm rain
- Kyoto in DecemberJapan · 11 kmHigh 10.0°C · Low 2.3°C · 65 mm rain
- Moriyama in DecemberJapan · 13 kmHigh 9.7°C · Low 2.4°C · 58 mm rain
- Uji in DecemberJapan · 13 kmHigh 10.1°C · Low 2.3°C · 65 mm rain
- Kōtari in DecemberJapan · 17 kmHigh 10.3°C · Low 2.4°C · 65 mm rain
- Jōyō in DecemberJapan · 18 kmHigh 9.8°C · Low 2.0°C · 57 mm rain
- Ōmihachiman in DecemberJapan · 25 kmHigh 9.6°C · Low 2.4°C · 75 mm rain
- Kameoka in DecemberJapan · 26 kmHigh 9.8°C · Low 1.9°C · 66 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Ōtsu) is explained once on the Ōtsu year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Kyoto, Uji and Kōtari lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.