Climate averages 1991–2020
Rotterdam weather
in December.
A cold, moderately wet month: the 11th warmest and the 10th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a cold month in Rotterdam: daytime highs average 6.4°C and nights cool to about 2.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 71 mm of rain on roughly 14 days, which makes December a moderately wet month (the 10th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 7 h 52 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Schiedam (6 km away). In December its highs average 6.6°C, about as warm as Rotterdam, with 71 mm of rain.
Among the 44 cities listed in the Netherlands, Rotterdam ranks joint 14th of 44 for the warmest December highs and joint 11th of 44 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 44 cities is 6.2°C; Rotterdam is 0.2°C warmer than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.5°C to 5.9°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 71 mm to 62 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
Rotterdam climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.9°C1.6°C | 1.6°C | 62 | 12.2 | 8.38 h |
| February | 6.8°C1.5°C | 1.5°C | 52 | 10.9 | 9.910 h |
| March | 9.8°C3.2°C | 3.2°C | 53 | 11.3 | 11.812 h |
| April | 13.6°C5.6°C | 5.6°C | 48 | 10.9 | 13.914 h |
| May | 17.0°C9.2°C | 9.2°C | 61 | 11.5 | 15.616 h |
| June | 19.6°C12.1°C | 12.1°C | 64 | 11.0 | 16.617 h |
| July | 21.7°C14.4°C | 14.4°C | 79 | 13.4 | 16.216 h |
| August | 21.6°C14.4°C | 14.4°C | 79 | 13.0 | 14.715 h |
| September | 18.5°C12.0°C | 12.0°C | 69 | 12.1 | 12.713 h |
| October | 14.3°C8.7°C | 8.7°C | 68 | 12.6 | 10.711 h |
| November | 9.7°C5.2°C | 5.2°C | 66 | 13.5 | 8.99 h |
| December, selected | 6.4°C2.4°C | 2.4°C | 71 | 13.5 | 7.98 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
- Schiedam in DecemberThe Netherlands · 6 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 2.7°C · 71 mm rain
- Vlaardingen in DecemberThe Netherlands · 9 kmHigh 6.7°C · Low 2.9°C · 75 mm rain
- Delft in DecemberThe Netherlands · 13 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 2.9°C · 75 mm rain
- Spijkenisse in DecemberThe Netherlands · 13 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 2.6°C · 72 mm rain
- Zoetermeer in DecemberThe Netherlands · 15 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 2.9°C · 71 mm rain
- Dordrecht in DecemberThe Netherlands · 18 kmHigh 6.3°C · Low 2.1°C · 71 mm rain
- Gouda in DecemberThe Netherlands · 19 kmHigh 6.4°C · Low 2.3°C · 70 mm rain
- The Hague in DecemberThe Netherlands · 21 kmHigh 6.8°C · Low 3.5°C · 75 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 Rotterdam) is explained once on the Rotterdam year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Zoetermeer and Schiedam lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.