Climate averages 1991–2020
Bern 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 Bern: daytime highs average 4.4°C and nights cool to about -2.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 93 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 36 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Luzern (66 km away). In December its highs average 5.3°C, 0.9°C warmer than Bern, with 131 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Bern ranks 7th of 8 for the warmest December highs and joint 1st of 8 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 8 cities is 5.1°C; Bern is 0.7°C cooler than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.5°C to 3.8°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 93 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
Bern climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.8°C-3.3°C | -3.3°C | 80 | 12.8 | 9.09 h |
| February | 4.9°C-3.3°C | -3.3°C | 73 | 11.7 | 10.310 h |
| March | 8.8°C-0.2°C | -0.2°C | 84 | 13.3 | 11.912 h |
| April | 12.5°C2.7°C | 2.7°C | 90 | 13.6 | 13.614 h |
| May | 16.3°C7.0°C | 7.0°C | 117 | 15.4 | 15.015 h |
| June | 19.8°C10.8°C | 10.8°C | 106 | 14.7 | 15.816 h |
| July | 21.8°C12.9°C | 12.9°C | 104 | 13.5 | 15.515 h |
| August | 21.8°C13.1°C | 13.1°C | 101 | 13.3 | 14.214 h |
| September | 17.7°C9.6°C | 9.6°C | 88 | 11.8 | 12.613 h |
| October | 13.9°C5.8°C | 5.8°C | 84 | 11.9 | 10.911 h |
| November | 8.1°C1.0°C | 1.0°C | 90 | 12.6 | 9.49 h |
| December, selected | 4.4°C-2.1°C | -2.1°C | 93 | 13.5 | 8.69 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
- Luzern in DecemberSwitzerland · 66 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low 0.0°C · 131 mm rain
- Basel in DecemberSwitzerland · 69 kmHigh 5.8°C · Low -0.8°C · 101 mm rain
- Lausanne in DecemberSwitzerland · 79 kmHigh 5.8°C · Low 1.6°C · 125 mm rain
- Mulhouse in DecemberFrance · 90 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low -0.4°C · 92 mm rain
- Zürich in DecemberSwitzerland · 95 kmHigh 5.2°C · Low -0.4°C · 106 mm rain
- Besançon in DecemberFrance · 113 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 1.2°C · 124 mm rain
- Winterthur in DecemberSwitzerland · 115 kmHigh 4.9°C · Low -0.9°C · 93 mm rain
- Freiburg in DecemberGermany · 120 kmHigh 5.8°C · Low 0.2°C · 108 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 Bern) is explained once on the Bern year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.