Minnesota Nature Guide: December 2026
Data updated: August 2026Sources & method · Corrections
December settles Minnesota fully into winter — the shortest days of the year, deep cold, and snow blanketing the frozen lakes from the prairie to the North Woods. The nature that remains is hardy and northern, and the long, clear nights make for some of the finest stargazing of the year.
Week by week in December
December 3–9
- At Sax-Zim Bog, birders search for great gray owls, northern hawk owls, and boreal chickadees in the deepening winter.
- The long December nights bring Orion due south with the Orion Nebula glowing in his sword and brilliant Sirius following in the southeast.
- Brush heavy, wet snow off evergreen branches to prevent breakage, and leave the dry snow undisturbed over the perennial beds as insulation.
December 10–16
- Christmas Bird Count season begins — birders fan out across the state to tally the winter birds in the long-running citizen-science census.
- The Geminid meteor shower peaks mid-month — one of the year's best, with slow, bright meteors visible all evening from a dark site.
- Holiday markets are at their peak with balsam wreaths and trees, storage crops, maple syrup, honey, and preserves.
December 17–23
- Snowy owls hunt open country, airports, and the Duluth harbor, while irruptive northern finches may brighten the feeders in a good year.
- The winter solstice arrives around December 21 — the shortest day and longest night, giving the maximum hours of dark, clear sky.
- Pure planning season — review the past year, start dreaming over seed catalogs, and order the short-season varieties before they sell out.
December 24–31
- Winter birding holds steady — chickadees, cardinals, and juncos at the feeders, with great gray owls and snowy owls the marquee finds up north.
- The Winter Hexagon and the brilliant Orion blaze through the long, frigid nights, closing the year under the clearest skies of the season.
- Red pine, white pine, spruce, and balsam fir hold the only green, the conifer backbone of the North Woods carrying it through the deep winter.
Birds This Month
December is full winter birding, centered on the feeders and the hardy residents. Black-capped chickadees, white- and red-breasted nuthatches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, blue jays, cardinals, and dark-eyed juncos are constant, and a heated birdbath and steady suet will hold them through the deepening cold. In an irruption year, the northern finches light up the feeders — common and hoary redpolls, pine siskins, pine and evening grosbeaks, and crossbills down from a failed boreal cone crop.
The marquee winter birds are in place. The Sax-Zim Bog near Duluth draws birders for great gray owls, northern hawk owls, boreal chickadees, black-backed woodpeckers, and bohemian waxwings, while snowy owls hunt open country, airports, and the Duluth harbor. Bald eagles concentrate at the open water below river dams. December is also Christmas Bird Count season — the long-running citizen-science census that sends birders out across the state to tally the winter birds. Keep those feeders full; they matter most in the deep cold.
What's Blooming
Nothing blooms outdoors in a Minnesota December — the ground is frozen hard beneath the snow, and the next wildflowers are four months away. The winter landscape's color comes instead from berries, bark, and seed heads: the bright red of winterberry holly, highbush cranberry, and mountain ash, the orange of bittersweet, and the glowing red stems of red-osier dogwood against the snow. The tan seed heads of coneflowers and the coppery plumes of prairie grasses stand through the drifts, feeding the goldfinches and the winter sparrows.
The only true bloom is indoors and underfoot in the home: this is the heart of the holiday flowering season, with amaryllis, paperwhite narcissus, Christmas cactus, and poinsettias bringing color to the darkest weeks of the year. Outdoors, the evergreen boughs, balsam wreaths, and the fragrance of cut balsam fir and pine stand in for flowers, and gardeners settle into the long winter of seed catalogs and next year's plans.
Garden This Month
December gardening in Minnesota is entirely about rest, protection, and planning. The beds are frozen and snow-covered statewide, and the snow itself is the garden's best friend — it insulates the soil, holds temperatures steady, and shields perennial crowns from the killing freeze-thaw whiplash, so leave it undisturbed over the beds. Gently brush heavy, wet snow off evergreen branches and shrubs to prevent them from splitting, but never disturb the dry, fluffy snow that's doing its protective work.
This is the season to enjoy the dormant landscape and plan the next one. Keep the bird feeders stocked and a heated birdbath open through the cold. Indoors, tend houseplants and forced bulbs, review what worked and what didn't this past year, sketch next year's beds, and start ordering seeds — the popular short-season varieties that Minnesota's brief growing season demands sell out early. On a mild day, you can prune storm-damaged limbs and any dormant fruit trees, but mostly, December is the gardener's well-earned rest.
Zone 3b (far north & Iron Range): the garden is deep under snow, which is its best insulation — leave it undisturbed. This is pure planning season: review the past year, start dreaming over seed catalogs, and order the short-season varieties northern gardens need before they sell out.
Zone 4b (most of the state): nothing to do outdoors but enjoy the snow cover protecting your perennials and bulbs. Gently brush heavy, wet snow off evergreen branches to prevent breakage, keep the bird feeders full, and turn to seed catalogs and garden planning indoors.
Zone 5a (Twin Cities metro & southeast): the warmest zone is still fully frozen. Knock heavy snow off evergreens, check that mulch and snow are protecting marginal perennials, prune any storm-damaged limbs on a mild day, and begin planning and ordering seeds for the season ahead.
What's at the Farmers Market
Outdoor markets are closed, but December's indoor winter markets and holiday markets are lively, blending the storage harvest with the season's festive offerings. The durable cured crops carry on — winter squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and leeks, plus cold-storage apples still eating crisp, along with wild rice, honey, maple syrup, cranberries, jams, and preserves.
The holiday focus brings the products of the North Woods to the fore: fragrant balsam fir Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands, and boughs from northern Minnesota's tree farms, prized across the country for their scent and needle retention. Heated greenhouses supply cold-season greens and eggs, and bakers and makers fill the holiday stalls. Store roots cool, dark, and humid and squash cool and dry to keep them through the winter. It's a season of root cellars, preserves, and evergreen fragrance — the Minnesota harvest stretched all the way to the year's end.
Night Sky This Month
December brings the winter solstice around December 21 — the shortest day and longest night of the year — giving Minnesota its maximum hours of darkness for stargazing, and the cold, dry air is exceptionally clear. The winter sky is at its glittering best: Orion stands due south in the evening with the Orion Nebula glowing in his sword, his belt pointing down to brilliant Sirius, the brightest star in the night, and up to orange Aldebaran and the sparkling Pleiades cluster in Taurus. The bright Winter Hexagon sprawls across the whole southern sky.
The Geminid meteor shower peaks in mid-December and is one of the best of the entire year — slow, bright, plentiful meteors radiating from Gemini, visible all evening (no need to wait for dawn) from a dark site. Dress for serious cold, give your eyes time to adapt, and the long winter nights reward you richly. The far-northern latitude also keeps the aurora borealis in play on active nights. The printable Minnesota night-sky guide lists this year's exact Geminid peak and planet positions for your latitude.
Butterflies & Pollinators
There are no butterflies flying in a Minnesota December — the deep cold and snow have shut the season down completely, and it will stay that way until a warm day in March or April coaxes the first mourning cloak back out. The summer's butterflies are all surviving the winter in dormant forms scattered through the frozen landscape. The monarchs are far to the south, clustered by the millions in the oyamel fir forests of central Mexico, where they'll wait out the winter before beginning the multi-generation journey north next spring.
The species that stay here are tucked away and frozen in place: mourning cloaks, eastern commas, question marks, and Compton tortoiseshells hibernate as adults behind bark and in woodpiles, biologically antifreeze-protected; others wait as eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalises hidden in leaf litter and on host-plant stems. December is the deepest point of their dormancy — and the perfect time for the gardener to plan next year's butterfly garden of native milkweed and a long succession of prairie nectar plants.
What to plant for them is in the Minnesota native plants guide
Trees This Month
Minnesota's trees are fully dormant in December, and the conifers define the winter landscape. The state tree, red pine (Norway pine), along with white pine, white and black spruce, balsam fir, and the cedars, holds the only green in the woods — and the balsam firs and spruces of the north are now in living rooms across the country as Christmas trees, the season's signature crop from Minnesota's tree farms.
The deciduous trees stand bare, their winter silhouettes and bark on full display: the chalk-white trunks of paper birch, the shaggy bark of shagbark hickory, and the broad crowns of the bur oaks that still cling to their tan, marcescent leaves alongside the young red oaks and ironwood. In the bogs, the tamaracks are leafless, their gold long gone. The trees have shut down for the season, storing their energy in root and trunk, waiting out the deep cold for the sap to rise again in March. The cycle begins anew with the lengthening light.
The Minnesota native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Minnesota, a typical December day averages a high near 25°F and a low near 8°F, with about 1.0 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Cold and quiet, short days wrapped in a biting chill with frost settling deep by nightfall.
| Average high | 25°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 8°F |
| Precipitation | 1.0 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 7:50 CT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 16:34 CT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (CT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Minnesota's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Minnesota guides
The complete Minnesota birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: December in Mississippi · December in Missouri · December in Montana