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Warmest sea temperatures in the world in December: ranked by sea temperature

Palopo tops the list at 30 °C in December. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in the world.

Top three in December: Palopo (30 °C) , Parepare (30 °C) , Baubau (30 °C) . Between first and 50th place the sea temp differs by 1.1 °C.

# Destination Country Sea temp Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Palopo Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 23 °C 426 mm 29 279 h 30 °C
2 Parepare Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 24 °C 325 mm 29 284 h 30 °C
3 Baubau Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 25 °C 311 mm 29 304 h 30 °C
4 Funafuti Tuvalu 30 °C 28 °C 27 °C 300 mm 24 311 h 30 °C
5 Probolinggo Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 25 °C 278 mm 27 272 h 30 °C
6 Honiara Solomon Islands 30 °C 29 °C 25 °C 328 mm 27 314 h 30 °C
7 Pasuruan Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 23 °C 320 mm 28 270 h 30 °C
8 Surabaya Indonesia 30 °C 30 °C 25 °C 271 mm 28 287 h 30 °C
9 Kupang Indonesia 30 °C 30 °C 25 °C 231 mm 24 314 h 30 °C
10 Dili Timor Leste 30 °C 31 °C 26 °C 237 mm 27 309 h 30 °C
11 Makassar Indonesia 30 °C 27 °C 24 °C 438 mm 29 222 h 30 °C
12 Ungaran Indonesia 30 °C 27 °C 22 °C 463 mm 29 255 h 30 °C
13 Semarang Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 24 °C 398 mm 29 267 h 30 °C
14 Situbondo Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 24 °C 428 mm 29 289 h 30 °C
15 Sorong Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 24 °C 342 mm 29 271 h 30 °C
16 Gorontalo Indonesia 30 °C 30 °C 24 °C 212 mm 28 307 h 30 °C
17 Kendari Indonesia 30 °C 30 °C 25 °C 310 mm 29 310 h 30 °C
18 Pekalongan Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 24 °C 496 mm 29 261 h 30 °C
19 Jepara Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 25 °C 448 mm 30 276 h 30 °C
20 Pemalang Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 24 °C 460 mm 29 263 h 30 °C
21 Tegal Indonesia 30 °C 29 °C 25 °C 446 mm 29 268 h 30 °C
22 Ambon Indonesia 29 °C 29 °C 26 °C 166 mm 24 314 h 29 °C
23 Plumbon Indonesia 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 362 mm 29 264 h 29 °C
24 Cirebon Indonesia 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 350 mm 28 265 h 29 °C
25 Macapá Brazil 29 °C 30 °C 24 °C 126 mm 22 326 h 29 °C
26 Yaren Nauru 29 °C 28 °C 27 °C 224 mm 18 316 h 29 °C
27 Balikpapan Indonesia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 276 mm 29 280 h 29 °C
28 Taiping Malaysia 29 °C 29 °C 23 °C 270 mm 26 268 h 29 °C
29 Jayapura Indonesia 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 301 mm 28 284 h 29 °C
30 Mahajanga Madagascar 29 °C 31 °C 25 °C 225 mm 24 344 h 29 °C
31 Mata-Utu Wallis and Futuna 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 321 mm 25 324 h 29 °C
32 Kapar Malaysia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 313 mm 26 269 h 29 °C
33 Labuan Bajo Indonesia 29 °C 28 °C 25 °C 339 mm 27 305 h 29 °C
34 Sitiawan Malaysia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 318 mm 28 274 h 29 °C
35 Shah Alam Malaysia 29 °C 28 °C 23 °C 299 mm 26 275 h 29 °C
36 Petaling Jaya Malaysia 29 °C 29 °C 23 °C 284 mm 26 276 h 29 °C
37 Bukit Mertajam Malaysia 29 °C 29 °C 23 °C 259 mm 23 269 h 29 °C
38 Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 243 mm 25 283 h 29 °C
39 Cotabato Philippines 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 181 mm 22 304 h 29 °C
40 Paya Terubong Malaysia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 190 mm 21 274 h 29 °C
41 Ternate Indonesia 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 252 mm 28 308 h 29 °C
42 Sepang Malaysia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 275 mm 25 274 h 29 °C
43 Pontianak Indonesia 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 368 mm 28 242 h 29 °C
44 Bitung Indonesia 29 °C 29 °C 25 °C 270 mm 29 312 h 29 °C
45 General Santos Philippines 29 °C 30 °C 23 °C 198 mm 22 294 h 29 °C
46 Acapulco de Juárez Mexico 29 °C 30 °C 22 °C 10 mm 2 333 h 29 °C
47 Ngerulmud Palau 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 276 mm 26 296 h 29 °C
48 Tarakan Indonesia 29 °C 28 °C 25 °C 310 mm 30 299 h 29 °C
49 Malacca Malaysia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 227 mm 24 272 h 29 °C
50 Cilegon Indonesia 29 °C 28 °C 24 °C 291 mm 26 273 h 29 °C

Monthly values for the month named in the ranking; only destinations with a published climate page are ranked. Download this ranking as CSV.

The same ranking one month earlier and later

November: top 5

  1. Şabyā 31 °C
  2. Palopo 30 °C
  3. Probolinggo 30 °C
  4. Pasuruan 30 °C
  5. Surabaya 30 °C

Full ranking for November

January: top 5

  1. Palopo 30 °C
  2. Honiara 30 °C
  3. Funafuti 30 °C
  4. Kendari 30 °C
  5. Baubau 30 °C

Full ranking for January

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
The average sea surface temperature at the coast, in °C, in December, highest first.
Period
1991–2020 climate normals: the same 30 years for every destination, so the list compares like with like.
Who is included
50 destinations in the world with a published climate page. Neighbouring places that share a climate series are shown once.
Ties
Equal values are ordered by beach score.
Sources
ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis via Open-Meteo; sea temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1. Measured values are reproduced unchanged; only the ordering is ours.

Data sources and method

Normal period
1991–2020
Dataset version
era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: ranking order, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.