
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
| Destination | Avg high | Avg low | Monthly rainfall | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punta CanaPunta Cana & the East | 26.7°C / 80°F | 24.8°C / 77°F | 57 mm | 14 |
| BávaroPunta Cana & the East | 26.8°C / 80°F | 24.9°C / 77°F | 61 mm | 14 |
| Cap CanaPunta Cana & the East | 26.7°C / 80°F | 24.9°C / 77°F | 57 mm | 14 |
| Uvero AltoPunta Cana & the East | 27°C / 81°F | 23.9°C / 75°F | 62 mm | 14 |
| Miches / Playa EsmeraldaPunta Cana & the East | 26.9°C / 80°F | 23.5°C / 74°F | 124 mm | 19 |
| Bayahibe / DominicusLa Romana & Bayahibe | 28.7°C / 84°F | 23.2°C / 74°F | 29 mm | 6 |
| Casa de CampoLa Romana & Bayahibe | 29°C / 84°F | 22.5°C / 72°F | 21 mm | 5 |
| Santo DomingoSanto Domingo & the South | 27.6°C / 82°F | 21.1°C / 70°F | 43 mm | 8 |
| Juan DolioSanto Domingo & the South | 27.8°C / 82°F | 23.3°C / 74°F | 40 mm | 10 |
| Las TerrenasSamaná Peninsula | 27.3°C / 81°F | 23.3°C / 74°F | 60 mm | 15 |
| Samaná townSamaná Peninsula | 26.7°C / 80°F | 23.6°C / 74°F | 62 mm | 15 |
| Las GalerasSamaná Peninsula | 25.7°C / 78°F | 23.5°C / 74°F | 68 mm | 15 |
| Puerto Plata / Playa DoradaNorth Coast | 26.4°C / 80°F | 23.1°C / 74°F | 71 mm | 11 |
| SosúaNorth Coast | 26.6°C / 80°F | 23.2°C / 74°F | 71 mm | 11 |
| CabareteNorth Coast | 27°C / 81°F | 23.2°C / 74°F | 112 mm | 16 |
| JarabacoaMountains & the Cibao | 22.8°C / 73°F | 15.9°C / 61°F | 71 mm | 14 |
| ConstanzaMountains & the Cibao | 20.2°C / 68°F | 13.8°C / 57°F | 63 mm | 14 |
| BarahonaThe Southwest | 28.4°C / 83°F | 21.9°C / 71°F | 22 mm | 3 |
| Pedernales / Bahía de las ÁguilasThe Southwest | 30.2°C / 86°F | 22.8°C / 73°F | 10 mm | 1 |
| Punta Rucia / Cayo ArenaNorth Coast | 29.2°C / 85°F | 19.6°C / 67°F | 30 mm | 5 |
| SantiagoMountains & the Cibao | 27.8°C / 82°F | 20.1°C / 68°F | 38 mm | 10 |
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
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