Climate averages 1991–2020
Bolton weather
in December.
A cold, wet month: the 11th warmest and the wettest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a cold month in Bolton: daytime highs average 6.5°C and nights cool to about 2.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 99 mm of rain on roughly 16 days, which makes December a wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 7 h 34 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Wigan (14 km away). In December its highs average 7.1°C, 0.6°C warmer than Bolton, with 98 mm of rain.
Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Bolton ranks joint 123rd of 143 for the warmest December highs and joint 119th of 143 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 143 cities is 7.2°C; Bolton is 0.7°C cooler than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.3°C to 6.2°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 99 mm to 83 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
Bolton climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.2°C1.7°C | 1.7°C | 83 | 15.1 | 8.18 h |
| February | 6.8°C1.4°C | 1.4°C | 72 | 13.3 | 9.810 h |
| March | 8.9°C2.4°C | 2.4°C | 70 | 13.0 | 11.812 h |
| April | 11.5°C4.0°C | 4.0°C | 65 | 12.7 | 14.014 h |
| May | 14.5°C6.9°C | 6.9°C | 67 | 12.7 | 15.916 h |
| June | 16.9°C9.9°C | 9.9°C | 81 | 13.8 | 17.017 h |
| July | 18.6°C11.8°C | 11.8°C | 82 | 14.8 | 16.516 h |
| August | 18.2°C11.8°C | 11.8°C | 89 | 15.1 | 14.815 h |
| September | 16.1°C9.8°C | 9.8°C | 77 | 12.7 | 12.813 h |
| October | 12.7°C7.3°C | 7.3°C | 91 | 14.7 | 10.611 h |
| November | 8.9°C4.3°C | 4.3°C | 91 | 16.1 | 8.79 h |
| December, selected | 6.5°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 99 | 15.5 | 7.68 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
- Wigan in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 14 kmHigh 7.1°C · Low 2.7°C · 98 mm rain
- Salford in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 14 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 2.0°C · 99 mm rain
- Manchester in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 17 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 2.1°C · 99 mm rain
- Rochdale in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 19 kmHigh 6.3°C · Low 1.8°C · 99 mm rain
- Blackburn in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 19 kmHigh 6.3°C · Low 1.8°C · 119 mm rain
- Oldham in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 21 kmHigh 5.8°C · Low 1.5°C · 89 mm rain
- Warrington in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 23 kmHigh 7.0°C · Low 2.6°C · 99 mm rain
- St Helens in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 25 kmHigh 7.2°C · Low 3.0°C · 98 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 Bolton) is explained once on the Bolton year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Warrington lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.