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What is the weather like in Stockholm in December?

Temperature, precipitation and sunshine in December, with the record range.

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Short answer

Stockholm in December is around freezing, with a mean temperature just above 0 °C in SMHI's 1991–2020 normals. The exact December normal is 0.6 °C, with 48 mm of precipitation and only 33 hours of sunshine. These are long-term averages for the Stockholm station, not a forecast.

Stockholm Illustration of a season wheel with snow, a birch leaf, sun and rain around a red Swedish cottage

Why

  1. According to SMHI, the December normal at its Stockholm station is 0.6 °C, down from 3.6 °C in November.
  2. SMHI lists only 33 hours of normal sunshine in Stockholm in December, against 280 hours in July.
  3. SMHI's records since 1901 show a December high of 12.7 °C (2015) and a low of -21.0 °C (1915) in Stockholm.

Details

December monthly means have ranged from -6.9 °C (1915) to 4.9 °C (2006) in Stockholm, according to SMHI. December 2025 averaged 3.9 °C, 3.3 degrees above the normal, with a greatest snow depth of only 1 cm.

Tip

Do not count on a white Christmas: pack for both frost and slush, with a warm coat and shoes with a good grip, and use the daylight hours around midday.

What may differ

December is milder in Gothenburg (2.1 °C), Malmö (2.6 °C) and Visby (1.8 °C) and much colder in Kiruna (-9.3 °C), according to SMHI normals.

People also ask

  • What is the temperature in Stockholm in December?
  • How cold is it in Stockholm in December?

Sources

Information checked on 27 October 2026.

Stockholm

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