Climate averages 1991–2020
Basel weather
in December.
A cold, wet month: the 11th warmest and the 8th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a cold month in Basel: daytime highs average 5.8°C and nights cool to about -0.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 101 mm of rain on roughly 14 days, which makes December a wet month (the 8th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 31 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Mulhouse (28 km away). In December its highs average 5.4°C, about as warm as Basel, with 92 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Basel ranks joint 2nd of 8 for the warmest December highs and 3rd of 8 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 8 cities is 5.1°C; Basel is 0.7°C warmer than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.4°C to 5.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 101 mm to 80 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
Basel climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.4°C-1.7°C | -1.7°C | 80 | 13.5 | 8.99 h |
| February | 6.9°C-1.5°C | -1.5°C | 73 | 11.7 | 10.210 h |
| March | 11.1°C1.4°C | 1.4°C | 83 | 13.5 | 11.912 h |
| April | 15.0°C4.6°C | 4.6°C | 90 | 14.1 | 13.614 h |
| May | 18.7°C8.9°C | 8.9°C | 129 | 16.8 | 15.115 h |
| June | 22.3°C12.7°C | 12.7°C | 118 | 15.8 | 15.916 h |
| July | 24.5°C14.8°C | 14.8°C | 121 | 15.4 | 15.616 h |
| August | 24.5°C14.9°C | 14.9°C | 125 | 15.1 | 14.314 h |
| September | 20.1°C10.8°C | 10.8°C | 95 | 12.6 | 12.613 h |
| October | 15.4°C6.7°C | 6.7°C | 97 | 13.2 | 10.911 h |
| November | 9.4°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 94 | 13.0 | 9.49 h |
| December, selected | 5.8°C-0.8°C | -0.8°C | 101 | 14.1 | 8.59 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
- Mulhouse in DecemberFrance · 28 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low -0.4°C · 92 mm rain
- Freiburg in DecemberGermany · 53 kmHigh 5.8°C · Low 0.2°C · 108 mm rain
- Bern in DecemberSwitzerland · 69 kmHigh 4.4°C · Low -2.1°C · 93 mm rain
- Zürich in DecemberSwitzerland · 76 kmHigh 5.2°C · Low -0.4°C · 106 mm rain
- Luzern in DecemberSwitzerland · 79 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low 0.0°C · 131 mm rain
- Winterthur in DecemberSwitzerland · 87 kmHigh 4.9°C · Low -0.9°C · 93 mm rain
- Villingen-Schwenningen in DecemberGermany · 89 kmHigh 3.0°C · Low -2.7°C · 100 mm rain
- Strasbourg in DecemberFrance · 115 kmHigh 5.9°C · Low 0.5°C · 87 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 Basel) is explained once on the Basel year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.