MIAMI · FEBRUARY · 25.8° N
February is the Miami the postcards were shot for: an average high of 78.2°F, a sea still reading close to 77°F, and afternoons that stay dry far more often than not. It is also the month the city knows it can charge for.
What the month takes back is bargaining power and daylight. Hotel rates run at their annual ceiling from February through April, and on the 15th the sun is gone by 6:14 p.m., which decides the shape of a two-day trip. The wider year sits in the statewide calendar.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · MIAMI · FEBRUARY
February hands you 78°F afternoons, a sea averaging 76.9°F and fewer than four rainy days, then bills you for all three at the top of the hotel curve.
AVG HIGH 78.2°F · SEA 76.9°F · 3.6 RAIN DAYS · PEAK HOTEL MONTHS FEB–APR
Go for: swimmable water in winter, all-day walking weather at 78°F, and a beach city with no storm season to check.
Think twice before: booking late, since February opens the February-to-April block when rooms cost the most, before the county tax and any resort fee.
Normals: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, Miami International Airport · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine · full sources at the end
On this page
- Average highs, lows and rain daysMiami weather in February
- Sea temperature in February76.9°F, and what that means in the water
- Hotel prices and the county taxCrowds, rates and the 6% transient tax
- Things to do in February with hours and pricesVizcaya, PAMM, Lummus Park
- A two-day plan for FebruaryTwo days, hour by hour
- February vs January and MarchThe three months, side by side
- Is February a good time to visit Miami?The verdict, for whom yes and for whom no
February sits in the middle of South Florida’s warm dry stretch, roughly December through April, and inside the block of months when hotels charge the most. That local window is narrower than the statewide dry season, which runs November through April, and the two are easy to confuse.
Miami weather in February: average highs, lows and rain days
| February in Miami | Normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 78.2°F (25.7°C) |
| Average low | 63.2°F (17.3°C) |
| Precipitation | 2.15 inches |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.6 |
| Days with 1.00 in or more | 0.5 |
| Daylight on the 15th | 11h 20m · 6:54 a.m. to 6:14 p.m. |
| Sea surface | 76.9°F |
These figures come from an official weather station rather than a model. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information publishes the 1991-2020 normals for station USW00012839, Miami International Airport, and February there averages a high of 78.2°F, a low of 63.2°F and 2.15 inches of rain. A grid-cell reanalysis would blend the coast and the inland airport into one number. This is the airport’s own record.
Those 2.15 inches arrive concentrated. The normals count 3.6 days reaching at least 0.10 inch and 0.5 day reaching a full inch, so a February week typically buys you one wet hour rather than a wet week, and about one February in two logs a single day heavy enough to cancel a beach afternoon.
The 15-degree gap between the 78.2°F afternoon and the 63.2°F dawn is what visitors pack wrong. A long-sleeve layer earns its space for dinner outdoors and the walk back across the sand, and something warmer still if you are on a boat at 8 a.m. None of that amounts to a coat.
On February 15 the sun rises at 6:54 a.m. and sets at 6:14 p.m. local time, about 11 hours 20 minutes of daylight (sunrise-sunset.org). Sunset before dinner rather than after it changes the running order of a day, and any museum that stops admitting at 4:30 p.m. costs you a full afternoon if you leave it until second.
Can you swim in Miami in February? Sea temperature and what it feels like
Open-Meteo’s marine series puts the sea surface off Miami at 76.9°F in February, averaged over 2015-2024. One nuance belongs with the number: it is a mean of daily maxima, so it reads a shade warmer than a true 24-hour average. The water at 7 a.m. is cooler than 76.9°F suggests.
At just under 77°F the Atlantic is swimmable without ceremony for most adults, brisk for the first half-minute and unremarkable after that. It is also warmer than the 63.2°F dawn air, which is why the sea feels generous early and merely pleasant at four in the afternoon. Anyone who chills quickly still wants a towel waiting on the sand.
We hold no February wind or swell normals for Miami, so this page will not invent one. What is documented is the calendar: the Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks around September 10 (NOAA National Hurricane Center), which puts February well clear of it. Lummus Park, free and open 24 hours, keeps lifeguards on duty.
How busy is Miami in February? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
February opens the most expensive block of the Miami year. Market data relayed by local guides puts hotel rates at their lowest from August to October and their highest from February through April. That is a market trend rather than an official statistic, and it is the one the front desk is working from.
The ceiling changes the booking more than the trip. For a February weekend on Miami Beach we would lock a room eight to twelve weeks out (est.), and price the mainland (Brickell, Downtown, Coconut Grove) before assuming the island. The wider arithmetic of a Florida week sits in our cost guide.
Then come the layers that never appear in the nightly headline. Miami-Dade County levies a 6.0% transient rental tax, filed and paid with the 6% state sales tax (Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT). Miami Beach hotels commonly add a nightly resort fee on top, and published amounts diverge sharply, from around $25 on average up to the $35 to $95 range depending on the property. Ask for the all-in figure before confirming.
The single line worth paying up for is the location of the bed. With 11 hours 20 minutes of daylight, a room you can walk to the sand from converts straight into hours in the water. Moving around costs little either way: a Metrobus or Metrorail ride is $2.25, fares cap at $5.65 a day, and the Metromover charges nothing at all (how Florida transit works).
Things to do in Miami in February
February is the month the city can be walked at noon. Summer afternoons here run near 90°F with humidity between 85 and 90 percent and near-daily thunderstorms, while a 78.2°F February turns Wynwood’s murals and Little Havana’s coffee windows into a midday plan. An Everglades day also falls in the dry season, when the wildlife concentrates.
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, in north Coconut Grove inside the City of Miami, opens Wednesday to Monday from 9:30 a.m. with last admission at 4:30 p.m., and closes Tuesdays. Adult admission is $20 while restoration work is underway, down from the usual $25, with $5 for children 6 to 12 and free entry under 6. The Vizcaya Metrorail station is a few minutes’ walk. On Key Biscayne, Crandon Park charges $7 to park on weekdays and $10 at weekends.
Free, and worth building days around: the Perez Art Museum Miami opens with no charge from 5 to 9 p.m. every Thursday, and free all day on the second Saturday of the month with art-making from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lummus Park costs nothing and never closes. The Miami Beach trolley runs free from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., about every 20 minutes. South Pointe Park is free to enter, though its lot starts at $2 an hour and hits a $20 flat rate on weekends and public holidays.
Miami in February: a two-day itinerary
Day one follows the light. Be on the sand at Lummus Park by 8, when the sea at close to 77°F is warmer than the air. Walk south to South Pointe Park before lunch, then cross to the mainland on the 120 Beach MAX ($2.25) for a Wynwood afternoon at the day’s 78°F ceiling. With sunset at 6:14 p.m., dinner follows the beach rather than competing with it.
Day two opens at Vizcaya’s 9:30 a.m. admission, reached by Metrorail to the Vizcaya station, on any day but Tuesday. Spend the afternoon downtown on the free Metromover, which runs every 90 seconds at rush hour and every three minutes off-peak. If one of February’s 3.6 wet days lands on you, trade the gardens for the Perez Art Museum and keep the water for the next morning.
Miami in February vs January and March
| Measure | January | February | March |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 76.2°F | 78.2°F | 80.6°F |
| Average low | 61.0°F | 63.2°F | 65.6°F |
| Precipitation | 1.83 in | 2.15 in | 2.46 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Sea surface | 77.0°F | 76.9°F | 78.4°F |
Across the three months the temperature climbs steadily and the rain follows it. February’s 78.2°F afternoon sits between January’s 76.2°F and March’s 80.6°F, with nights at 61.0°F, 63.2°F and 65.6°F in the same order. Rainfall rises from 1.83 to 2.15 to 2.46 inches, while the number of days reaching 0.10 inch barely moves: 3.8, 3.6, 3.5. All five lines share the NOAA 1991-2020 series for the airport.
Shifting four weeks costs something in both directions. Take January and you book below the February-to-April ceiling and gain a tenth of a degree of sea at 77.0°F, at the price of two degrees of afternoon. Take March and you gain 2.4°F of daytime warmth plus the warmest of these three seas at 78.4°F, and you inherit spring break.
Is February a good time to visit Miami?
Yes for anyone who wants dependable winter warmth without a passport and can absorb peak pricing. The month delivers 78.2°F days, 3.6 wet days, a swimmable sea and no storm season to monitor. No for travelers whose budget is the binding constraint, because February opens the priciest stretch of the Miami year.
When price rules, January is the first place to look: rates sit below the February-to-April block, the sea reads 77.0°F, and you surrender two degrees of afternoon warmth and little else. If price rules absolutely, rooms bottom out from August to October, which buys 90°F highs, humidity between 85 and 90 percent, afternoon thunderstorms and the heart of hurricane season.
What February alone puts on the table is a 76.9°F sea under a 78.2°F sky, with rain on fewer than four days and the hurricane calendar half a year away in either direction.
The last word
The weather in February has already made its decision, so the one left to you is where the bed goes and how you reach it. MIA sits about 12 miles from South Beach, 20 to 45 minutes by car depending on traffic, and route 150, the Miami Beach Airport Express, covers the same crossing for $2.25 with luggage racks on board, roughly every 30 minutes from about 5 a.m. to midnight. Book the room early, spend the saving on the water taxi you did not plan, and be on the sand by eight.
Sources & data for this guide
- February normals (high 78.2°F, low 63.2°F, 2.15 in, 3.6 days at 0.10 in, 0.5 day at 1.00 in) · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012839, Miami International Airport · checked Sep 8, 2026
- January and March normals used in the comparison table · same NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 series and station · checked Sep 8, 2026
- Sea surface 76.9°F, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 8, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise 6:54 a.m. and sunset 6:14 p.m. on Feb 15, converted to America/New_York · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 8, 2026
- Hurricane season dates and September 10 peak · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 6, 2026
- Transient rental tax of 6.0% filed with the 6% state sales tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 8, 2026
- Vizcaya hours, Tuesday closure and $20 restoration-period admission · vizcaya.org · checked Sep 7, 2026
- PAMM free Thursday evenings and second Saturdays · pamm.org · checked Sep 7, 2026
- Transit fares ($2.25, $5.65 daily cap), free Metromover, routes 120 and 150, free Miami Beach trolley · Miami-Dade County and City of Miami Beach · checked Sep 7, 2026 · Metromover hours diverge between the county (5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and local guides (5 a.m. to midnight), unresolved
- Park and parking fees at South Pointe and Crandon · City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade Parks · checked Sep 7, 2026 · parking rates change
- Hotel seasonality (lowest Aug-Oct, highest Feb-Apr) and resort fees are market signals relayed by guides, not official statistics, and resort fee amounts diverge widely by source · checked Sep 7, 2026
- Booking lead time of eight to twelve weeks is our own estimate and is marked (est.) in the text · no February event dates are cited because none are held in our verified data