Climate averages 1991–2020

Plymouth weather
in December.

A cool, wet month: the 10th warmest and the 11th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 9.3°C Daytime mean, December

Average low 5.6°C Night-time mean, December

Rainfall 109 mm 15 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 8 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

December is a cool month in Plymouth: daytime highs average 9.3°C and nights cool to about 5.6°C. By daytime temperature it is the 10th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 109 mm of rain on roughly 15 days, which makes December a wet month (the 11th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 07 min on an average December day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Exeter (59 km away). In December its highs average 8.5°C, 0.8°C cooler than Plymouth, with 73 mm of rain.

Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Plymouth ranks 1st of 143 for the warmest December highs and joint 131st of 143 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 143 cities is 7.2°C; Plymouth is 2.1°C warmer than that mean.

From December to January, average highs fall by 0.6°C to 8.7°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 109 mm to 102 mm.

The annual picture

December in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Plymouth climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Plymouth, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January	8.7°C4.9°C	4.9°C	102	15.5	8.69 h
February	8.7°C4.4°C	4.4°C	77	12.0	10.010 h
March	10.2°C5.2°C	5.2°C	67	11.9	11.812 h
April	12.3°C6.5°C	6.5°C	63	11.5	13.814 h
May	15.0°C9.2°C	9.2°C	61	10.7	15.415 h
June	17.6°C11.9°C	11.9°C	61	10.6	16.316 h
July	19.4°C13.9°C	13.9°C	61	10.5	16.016 h
August	19.4°C14.1°C	14.1°C	69	11.2	14.515 h
September	17.4°C12.5°C	12.5°C	61	10.3	12.713 h
October	14.4°C10.3°C	10.3°C	104	14.5	10.811 h
November	11.3°C7.6°C	7.6°C	112	15.4	9.19 h
December, selected	9.3°C5.6°C	5.6°C	109	15.1	8.18 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

Distance from Plymouth

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 limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Plymouth) is explained once on the Plymouth year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.