Things to Do in Palm Springs in December

December in Greater Palm Springs is parades, lights, and the second-wettest month of the year — which here still means under an inch of rain.

It is also the month the valley gets genuinely cold at night, and the month you can be standing in snow ten minutes after leaving a palm tree.

The same street, twice, in opposite directions

There is a nice symmetry to autumn on Palm Canyon Drive that nobody points out.

In November, the Pride parade runs south — from Tachevah down through downtown to Amado. In December, the Festival of Lights Parade runs north — from Ramon up Palm Canyon to Tachevah. Same street, a month apart, pointed at each other.

The Festival of Lights Parade is the first Saturday in December, and it begins at 5:45 promptly. It runs about a mile and a half with around 80 entries, it is free, there are no tickets, and it is put on by the City of Palm Springs. The official tree lighting is at Frances Stevens Park the evening before.

It is the biggest single night of the year in downtown Palm Springs. The city’s own advice is that the crowds are large; the practical version is that you park a long way out and walk.

More: the Festival of Lights Parade

Lights

The valley does lights properly. The Living Desert runs WildLights on selected nights from late November through the end of December, with timed reservations required in advance. Magic of Lights is a drive-through at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, one price per carload. And Candy Cane Lane in Cathedral City is a residential street on Minerva Road where the neighbours simply do it themselves — no organiser, no schedule, no tickets, free.

More: where to see Christmas lights in the valley · Candy Cane Lane · Christmas in Palm Springs · the Walk of the Inns

The second-wettest month, which is not saying much

Average high 69, average low 46, and 0.68 inches of rain. That makes December the third-wettest month behind January and February, and in the context of a place that gets 4.61 inches a year it is still nothing.

The record December had 5.92 inches, in 1940 — more than a normal year, in a month. The record for the driest December is 0.00 inches, which happened as recently as 2024. Those two numbers, from the same month, are the whole story of desert rainfall.

The coldest day on record was Christmas Day

Palm Springs’ coldest December temperature is 23 degrees, recorded on Christmas Day 1953. The December record high is 93.

Neither of those is typical, but the nights genuinely are cold — mid forties on average, and colder out in the open desert. People underpack for December here more than any other month.

Snow, ten minutes away

The Aerial Tramway typically sees snow from November through April. The Mountain Station is at 8,516 feet, the ride is about ten minutes, and the top runs 30 to 40 degrees colder than the valley floor.

The Winter Adventure Center up there rents snowshoes and cross-country ski packages by the day, first come first served, weather permitting, with no rentals after mid-afternoon. Above it, San Jacinto Peak at 10,834 feet is the highest point in the California state park system. Wet winters drop several feet of snow up there; dry ones drop a dusting.

Going from 70 degrees and palm trees to snow in ten minutes is the single most Palm Springs thing available, and December is the month it actually works.

More: the Aerial Tramway · tram discount tickets

The earthquake nobody remembers

On the afternoon of 4 December 1948 a magnitude 6.0 quake struck about five miles east of Desert Hot Springs. Palm Springs took it hardest — stock thrown off shop shelves, a furniture store partly collapsed, two people hurt getting out of a cinema. Nobody died.

It is a footnote now, which is a reasonable outcome for a magnitude 6 directly under a town.

Rates, and the odd dip

December is not the peak. Hotel tax collections in Palm Springs run lower in December than in November, and lower than January. Between the start of the month and the run-up to Christmas there is a real window where the weather is perfect, the lights are up, and the town is not full.

That window closes hard around the 26th.

More: New Year’s Eve in Palm Springs

More guides

• Things to do in Palm Springs this weekend
• January in Palm Springs
• November in Palm Springs
• The best hikes in Indian Canyons
• What happened to Robolights

Weather figures are NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for Palm Springs International Airport. Records are from the National Weather Service; tax figures are from the City of Palm Springs. Hours and dates change; check the operator before you go.