Climate averages 1991–2020
South Shields weather
in December.
A cold, moderately 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 South Shields: daytime highs average 7.0°C and nights cool to about 3.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 59 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes December a moderately wet month (the 8th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 7 h 18 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Sunderland (11 km away). In December its highs average 6.7°C, about as warm as South Shields, with 59 mm of rain.
Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, South Shields ranks joint 79th of 143 for the warmest December highs and joint 42nd of 143 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 143 cities is 7.2°C; South Shields is 0.2°C cooler than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.3°C to 6.7°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 59 mm to 53 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
South Shields climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.7°C2.7°C | 2.7°C | 53 | 12.2 | 7.88 h |
| February | 7.2°C2.6°C | 2.6°C | 46 | 11.0 | 9.610 h |
| March | 8.9°C3.3°C | 3.3°C | 43 | 10.6 | 11.812 h |
| April | 11.0°C4.9°C | 4.9°C | 51 | 11.0 | 14.114 h |
| May | 13.7°C7.5°C | 7.5°C | 48 | 11.3 | 16.116 h |
| June | 16.4°C10.4°C | 10.4°C | 60 | 11.5 | 17.317 h |
| July | 18.8°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 61 | 12.0 | 16.817 h |
| August | 18.6°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 68 | 12.3 | 15.015 h |
| September | 16.3°C10.6°C | 10.6°C | 52 | 9.7 | 12.813 h |
| October | 12.9°C8.1°C | 8.1°C | 58 | 11.8 | 10.511 h |
| November | 9.3°C5.3°C | 5.3°C | 62 | 12.5 | 8.58 h |
| December, selected | 7.0°C3.1°C | 3.1°C | 59 | 12.4 | 7.37 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
- Sunderland in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 11 kmHigh 6.7°C · Low 2.6°C · 59 mm rain
- Newcastle upon Tyne in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 12 kmHigh 6.4°C · Low 2.5°C · 59 mm rain
- Hartlepool in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 38 kmHigh 7.0°C · Low 3.2°C · 65 mm rain
- Stockton-on-Tees in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 48 kmHigh 6.8°C · Low 2.8°C · 65 mm rain
- Middlesbrough in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 49 kmHigh 6.9°C · Low 3.1°C · 65 mm rain
- Darlington in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 53 kmHigh 6.3°C · Low 1.8°C · 62 mm rain
- Carlisle in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 97 kmHigh 6.1°C · Low 1.5°C · 100 mm rain
- Harrogate in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 112 kmHigh 6.0°C · Low 1.5°C · 69 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 South Shields) is explained once on the South Shields year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.