Winter sun and winter daylight are not the same thing

Published 2026-08-01 · last checked 2026-08-01 · written and calculated in-house by timedatelive

Warmth and light are two different variables and they do not move together. Sorting cities by temperature gives you one list; sorting the same cities by daylight gives you a materially different one, and the places that look best on one measure are routinely mid-table on the other.

This page puts both columns side by side for ten cities where we have a verified temperature record, and explains which one you should probably be sorting on.

Short answer

Temperature is set by how much heat a place holds; daylight is set purely by latitude. Going further from the equator loses you light in December but not necessarily warmth, and going closer to it gains you warmth without gaining much light.

Mombasa is the warmest city here at 32.8°C and gets 12h 21m of December daylight. Funchal is twelve degrees cooler and gets 10h 00m — nearly an hour and a half more light.

City	Jan average high	Dec daylight	Sunset	Cost/mo
Mombasa	32.8°C	12h 21m	18:30	$1,200
Bangkok	32.7°C	11h 19m	17:55	$1,400
Stone Town (Zanzibar)	32.6°C	12h 29m	18:36	$1,300
Goa (Anjuna)	32.5°C	11h 12m	18:09	$1,000
Colombo	31.4°C	11h 43m	18:00	$1,100
Chiang Mai	30.0°C	11h 00m	17:52	$1,000
Florianópolis	29.4°C	13h 53m	19:09	$1,300
Funchal	20.0°C	10h 00m	18:06	$1,800
Larnaca	17.1°C	9h 48m	16:38	$1,900
Valletta	15.7°C	9h 43m	16:52	$2,200

January mean daily maximum on 1991–2020 normals from named national agencies, alongside December daylight computed from latitude. Only cities whose climate record states both a normals period and a source agency are included.

Why the two columns disagree

Daylight length in December depends only on how far north or south you are. Cross the equator and it reverses: southern-hemisphere cities are in their summer in December and get long days, which is why Florianópolis shows 13h 53m despite sitting well away from the tropics.

Temperature depends on far more: ocean currents, altitude, prevailing winds, continentality, and how much of the year the sun spends high in the sky. A city can be warm in January because it is close to the equator (Mombasa, Colombo), because it is in the southern summer (Florianópolis), or because a warm ocean keeps it mild (Funchal). Those three routes to warmth produce completely different daylight.

Which one to sort on

If your problem is mood and energy in winter, sort on daylight and sunset time. The evidence on seasonal low mood points at light, not temperature. A warm city with a 16:40 sunset will not fix it.
If your problem is that you want to be outdoors and in the water, sort on temperature. There is no substitute, and the equatorial cities win outright.
If you want both, the answer is the southern hemisphere. December below the equator gives you long days and high sun at the same time — that is the one combination that does not require a trade-off. It costs you a long flight and, from Europe, a difficult time zone.

Why only ten cities. We only publish a temperature for a city when its climate record states both an explicit normals period and a named source agency, and we only compare 1991–2020 normals against each other so the comparison is like for like. Nineteen otherwise obvious candidates failed that test and were left out rather than guessed at — the reasoning for each is in how we verify temperature data. Daylight, by contrast, is available for all 500 cities because it is computed rather than sourced.

The trap in the middle

The genuinely bad option is a city that is mild rather than hot and also far enough north to be dark. Southern Europe in January is exactly this: pleasant at noon, cold by five, dark by half past five, and not warm enough for the outdoor life that would justify the short day.

That is a defensible choice if you are there for the cost or the time zone — and the time zone case for the Mediterranean is strong. It is a poor choice if you went specifically to escape the winter, because it delivers about half of one.

Common follow-up questions

Is a warmer city always brighter in winter?

No. Warmth comes from latitude, ocean currents, altitude and season; daylight length comes from latitude alone. Madeira is much cooler than Bangkok in January and gets more December daylight than several warmer places, because it sits further from the equator in a hemisphere where December is summer for nobody.

Which matters more for seasonal low mood?

Light exposure is the factor most consistently linked to seasonal mood change, so daylight length and the timing of sunset are the more relevant numbers. This is general information rather than medical advice — if winter reliably affects your health, that is worth discussing with a doctor.

Why do you only show temperatures for ten cities?

Because those are the ten where the underlying climate record names both a normals period and a source agency. Publishing a number we cannot attribute would make the comparison worse, not better.

Where do you get both long days and real heat in December?

The southern hemisphere, where December is midsummer. Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand all deliver both. The cost is distance and, from Europe, an awkward time zone.