Climate averages 1991–2020
York weather
in December.
A cold, moderately wet month: the 11th warmest and the joint 6th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a cold month in York: daytime highs average 6.6°C and nights cool to about 1.7°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 58 mm of rain on roughly 11 days, which makes December a moderately wet month (the joint 6th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 7 h 30 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Harrogate (30 km away). In December its highs average 6.0°C, 0.6°C cooler than York, with 69 mm of rain.
Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, York ranks joint 116th of 143 for the warmest December highs and joint 30th of 143 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 143 cities is 7.2°C; York is 0.6°C cooler than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.1°C to 6.5°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 58 mm to 54 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
York climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.5°C1.5°C | 1.5°C | 54 | 11.8 | 8.08 h |
| February | 7.3°C1.3°C | 1.3°C | 46 | 10.1 | 9.710 h |
| March | 9.4°C2.4°C | 2.4°C | 46 | 10.7 | 11.812 h |
| April | 12.0°C4.0°C | 4.0°C | 58 | 11.5 | 14.014 h |
| May | 14.8°C6.9°C | 6.9°C | 55 | 11.5 | 15.916 h |
| June | 17.6°C9.8°C | 9.8°C | 71 | 12.2 | 17.017 h |
| July | 19.9°C12.1°C | 12.1°C | 66 | 11.9 | 16.617 h |
| August | 19.6°C12.0°C | 12.0°C | 72 | 11.5 | 14.915 h |
| September | 17.0°C9.9°C | 9.9°C | 57 | 10.0 | 12.813 h |
| October | 13.3°C7.2°C | 7.2°C | 61 | 11.5 | 10.611 h |
| November | 9.3°C4.0°C | 4.0°C | 59 | 11.2 | 8.69 h |
| December, selected | 6.6°C1.7°C | 1.7°C | 58 | 11.1 | 7.57 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
- Harrogate in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 30 kmHigh 6.0°C · Low 1.5°C · 69 mm rain
- Leeds in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 35 kmHigh 6.8°C · Low 2.2°C · 67 mm rain
- Wakefield in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 41 kmHigh 6.7°C · Low 2.2°C · 67 mm rain
- Bradford in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 48 kmHigh 6.4°C · Low 2.0°C · 82 mm rain
- Doncaster in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 48 kmHigh 6.9°C · Low 2.2°C · 60 mm rain
- Scunthorpe in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 51 kmHigh 6.8°C · Low 1.9°C · 53 mm rain
- Barnsley in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 52 kmHigh 6.4°C · Low 1.9°C · 70 mm rain
- Kingston upon Hull in DecemberUnited Kingdom · 54 kmHigh 7.1°C · Low 2.8°C · 58 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 York) is explained once on the York year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.