Vietnam Weather in December

December is the winter in the North of Vietnam, cold rainy season in the Central Region of Vietnam, pleasant dry season in the Central Highlands and in the South of Vietnam. With climatic change, it may be drastically different nowadays though.

1/The weather in the North of Vietnam in December
The cold winter in the North and northern area of the Central Regions of Vietnam is caused by cold and dry northeasterly winds which could originate from the Gobi Desert or Siberia. At the beginning and the end of the winter, it is normally light cold winds from the Gobi Desert while the deep cold in the North of Vietnam mostly is caused by successive strengthening spells of cold winds from Siberia.

Each spell of cold winds could cause light rains in the North a couple of days; those at the beginning of the season normally cause more rains than those in the middle of the season. The stronger the winds the less it may cause rains.

The temperatures in the North of Vietnam in December could fluctuate from year to year between below 10oC to 25oC. The provinces to the Northeast of the country receives more rains and colder while the lowlands and the Northwest tend to be a bit drier and a bit warmer.

2/The North of the Central Region of Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh) tend to share the weather pattern with the North of Vietnam. The difference may be that it tends to be warmer and it tends to rain more. The temperatures are from 10oC to 28oC.

3/The Central Region of Vietnam (or the Central Coast of Vietnam) is in the rainy season with cool temperatures. It is the time when the northeasterly monsoons meet with easterly monsoons and they both help accumulate clouds to the east of the Truong Son Range which runs the full length of the Central Region of Vietnam.

The torrential rains normally last for several days and could cause bad floods. Traveling by train or by road may be blocked temporarily. The temperatures are from 18-28oC; the temperatures are normally higher to the south of the Hai Van Pass than the region to the north.

4/ The Central Highlands of Vietnam mostly enjoy pleasant sunny days in December with temperatures from 15-26oC, 14-18oC in Da Lat.

5/South of Vietnam enjoys mostly sunny days with pleasant temperatures from 23oC-33oC.

  • The new spell of northerly cold winds in northern Vietnam starting on the night of 27December2018 in the mountains and 28Dec2018 in the lowlands has been causing extreme cold to the north of Vietnam and torrential rains in the Central Region of Vietnam. Records show -0.5oC at Mau Son Mountain (Lang Son) on 30December2018, there has been snow and frost at Mau Son on 31December2018.

  • The new spell of northerly winds started having its effects in the Central Region of Vietnam from 7December2018. The northerly winds met with the southeasterly winds on high altitudes caused unusually heavy rains from Thanh Hoa to Binh Dinh with rainfalls between 300-400mm and up to over 800-900mm in some places (Cam Le, Ba Na, Binh Phu, Thang Binh... in Quang Nam and Da Nang). Floods are rampant throughout the region; Dong Ha (Quang Tri), Da Nang and Quang Nam are to suffer the worst.

  • 1/The North of Vietnam
    In North Vietnam, December is winter but it was slightly different in 2018. December 2018 the North of Vietnam experienced the first week with perfect and typical autumn days: sunny, breezy and absolutely pleasant. The temperatures were 14-26oC in the lowlands and 12-23oC in the mountains.