December Weather in Queenstown New Zealand

Daily high temperatures increase by 3°F, from 61°F to 64°F, rarely falling below 53°F or exceeding 72°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 3°F, from 44°F to 47°F, rarely falling below 36°F or exceeding 55°F.

For reference, on February 4, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Queenstown typically range from 48°F to 66°F, while on July 9, the coldest day of the year, they range from 30°F to 42°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on December. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Coihaique, Chile (5,169 miles away) and Río Gallegos, Argentina (4,929 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Queenstown (view comparison).

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Compare Queenstown to another city:

CompareMap

The month of December in Queenstown experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 54% throughout the month. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 55% on December 23.

The clearest day of the month is December 3, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 47% of the time.

For reference, on May 19, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 65%, while on February 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 52%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Queenstown, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is gradually increasing, starting the month at 41% and ending it at 44%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 46% on October 13, and its lowest chance is 32% on July 13.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during December in Queenstown is increasing, starting the month at 4.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.1 inches or falls below 2.1 inches, and ending the month at 4.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.3 inches or falls below 2.1 inches.

Over the course of December in Queenstown, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the month is December 1, with 15 hours, 21 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 21, with 15 hours, 38 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month in Queenstown is 5:52 AM on December 11 and the latest sunrise is 9 minutes later at 6:01 AM on December 31.

The earliest sunset is 9:14 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 20 minutes later at 9:35 PM on December 31.

Daylight saving time is observed in Queenstown during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during December, so the entire month is in standard time.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:54 AM and sets 15 hours, 38 minutes later, at 9:32 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:24 AM and sets 8 hours, 46 minutes later, at 5:09 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for December 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Queenstown is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on February 1, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time, while on January 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Queenstown is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 8.8 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on October 7, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.2 miles per hour, while on July 5, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.2 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Queenstown throughout December is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 40% on December 1.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Queenstown typically lasts for 5.3 months (162 days), from around October 30 to around April 10, rarely starting before October 4 or after December 13, and rarely ending before March 6 or after May 20.

The month of December in Queenstown is very likely fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season increasing from 84% to 98% over the course of the month.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Queenstown are gradually increasing during December, increasing by 165°F, from 161°F to 326°F, over the course of the month.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Queenstown is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.1 kWh of 7.1 kWh throughout.

The highest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 7.2 kWh on December 20.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Queenstown are -45.030 deg latitude, 168.663 deg longitude, and 1,076 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Queenstown contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 3,255 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,687 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (6,424 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (9,908 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Queenstown is covered by grassland (40%), trees (37%), and water (22%), within 10 miles by grassland (53%) and trees (25%), and within 50 miles by grassland (54%) and trees (27%).