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A warm Caribbean beach at sunset meeting a frozen winter shoreline in the same frame — the December contrast, side by side

Dominican Republic weather in December

Across the 21 destinations with climate-v1 records, December average highs run 20.2°C in Constanza to 30.2°C in Pedernales / Bahía de las Águilas. Miches / Playa Esmeralda is the wettest at 124 mm; Pedernales / Bahía de las Águilas the driest at 10 mm.

December at a glance

Average highs across the country
20.2–30.2°C
Constanza coolest, Pedernales / Bahía de las Águilas warmest. No single national average is shown.
Wettest destination
124 mm
Miches / Playa Esmeralda, on about 19 wet days.
Driest destination
10 mm
Pedernales / Bahía de las Águilas, on about 1 wet days.

December by destination

December climate averages by destination — 1995–2024 30-year average, Open-Meteo and Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis. Not a forecast.
DestinationAvg highAvg lowMonthly rainfallWet days
Punta CanaPunta Cana & the East26.7°C / 80°F24.8°C / 77°F57 mm14
BávaroPunta Cana & the East26.8°C / 80°F24.9°C / 77°F61 mm14
Cap CanaPunta Cana & the East26.7°C / 80°F24.9°C / 77°F57 mm14
Uvero AltoPunta Cana & the East27°C / 81°F23.9°C / 75°F62 mm14
Miches / Playa EsmeraldaPunta Cana & the East26.9°C / 80°F23.5°C / 74°F124 mm19
Bayahibe / DominicusLa Romana & Bayahibe28.7°C / 84°F23.2°C / 74°F29 mm6
Casa de CampoLa Romana & Bayahibe29°C / 84°F22.5°C / 72°F21 mm5
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo & the South27.6°C / 82°F21.1°C / 70°F43 mm8
Juan DolioSanto Domingo & the South27.8°C / 82°F23.3°C / 74°F40 mm10
Las TerrenasSamaná Peninsula27.3°C / 81°F23.3°C / 74°F60 mm15
Samaná townSamaná Peninsula26.7°C / 80°F23.6°C / 74°F62 mm15
Las GalerasSamaná Peninsula25.7°C / 78°F23.5°C / 74°F68 mm15
Puerto Plata / Playa DoradaNorth Coast26.4°C / 80°F23.1°C / 74°F71 mm11
SosúaNorth Coast26.6°C / 80°F23.2°C / 74°F71 mm11
CabareteNorth Coast27°C / 81°F23.2°C / 74°F112 mm16
JarabacoaMountains & the Cibao22.8°C / 73°F15.9°C / 61°F71 mm14
ConstanzaMountains & the Cibao20.2°C / 68°F13.8°C / 57°F63 mm14
BarahonaThe Southwest28.4°C / 83°F21.9°C / 71°F22 mm3
Pedernales / Bahía de las ÁguilasThe Southwest30.2°C / 86°F22.8°C / 73°F10 mm1
Punta Rucia / Cayo ArenaNorth Coast29.2°C / 85°F19.6°C / 67°F30 mm5
SantiagoMountains & the Cibao27.8°C / 82°F20.1°C / 68°F38 mm10

How December differs region by region

  • Biggest change ahead: Punta Cana & the East moves 21 mm drier from December into January, while La Romana & Bayahibe moves only 1 mm.
  • Punta Cana & the East: December averages 72.2 mm of rain across 5 destinations with records, on about 15 wet days. That is 40 mm less than November, and 21 mm above January.
  • La Romana & Bayahibe: December averages 25 mm of rain across 2 destinations with records, on about 5.5 wet days. That is 28 mm less than November, and 1 mm above January.
  • Santo Domingo & the South: December averages 41.5 mm of rain across 2 destinations with records, on about 9 wet days. That is 36 mm less than November, and 11 mm above January.
  • Samaná Peninsula: December averages 63.3 mm of rain across 3 destinations with records, on about 15 wet days. That is 41 mm less than November, and 19 mm above January.
  • North Coast: December averages 71 mm of rain across 4 destinations with records, on about 10.8 wet days. That is 16 mm less than November, and 15 mm above January.
  • Mountains & the Cibao: December averages 57.3 mm of rain across 3 destinations with records, on about 12.7 wet days. That is 34 mm less than November, and 1 mm below January.
  • The Southwest: December averages 16 mm of rain across 2 destinations with records, on about 2 wet days. That is 23 mm less than November, and 3 mm above January.

Sargassum in December is a separate question

Nothing in this month’s climate table describes seaweed on a beach. Open the sargassum planner and set the month to December — it runs on its own live data layer and its own model version.

Weather, sargassum, and beach conditions are different questions

Everything on this page is climate: 30-year averages of temperature and rainfall. It says nothing about seaweed on a given beach on a given week, and nothing about which destination suits your trip.

Sargassum has its own live data layer, its own model and its own version string — use the sargassum planner for that question. To choose between destinations, use the destination finder.

How these numbers were produced

Source
Open-Meteo climate reanalysis and Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis open-meteo.com and Copernicus ERA5-Land hourly time series
Baseline
30-year averages, 1995–2024
Climate version
climate-v1.1-1995-2024
  • These are 30-year averages, 1995–2024, sampled at each destination's registry coordinates. They are NOT a WMO standard normal, and they are NOT a forecast.
  • Celsius, rainfall and wet-day values are transcribed exactly as supplied. Fahrenheit is derived from Celsius, never supplied.
  • 17 destinations: monthly values from Open-Meteo climate reanalysis, transcribed as supplied.
  • 4 destinations (Jarabacoa, Constanza, Juan Dolio, Punta Rucia): computed by Transekur from Copernicus ERA5-Land hourly reanalysis (CC-BY 4.0), 1995–2024, aggregated over local Santo Domingo calendar days; a wet day is ≥ 1.0 mm.
  • Values represent ~9 km reanalysis grid cells: Jarabacoa 19.1,-70.6; Constanza 18.9,-70.7; Juan Dolio 18.5,-69.4 (inland representative cell a few km from the beachfront — the coastal cell is ocean in this dataset); Punta Rucia 19.6,-71.3.
  • Mountain grid cells can sit above town centers, so in-town temperatures can run warmer than the grid average. Reanalysis is modeled data, not station observations.
  • Wet days for the 17 Open-Meteo destinations are days with measurable precipitation as supplied by that source; that baseline does not define a millimetre threshold, so none is stated for them.

Plan the rest of the trip

Whatever month you land in, your driver is waiting at arrivals with your name on the sign.

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