Fort Lauderdale in December: Weather, Sea Temperature and the Holiday Crowds

FORT LAUDERDALE · DECEMBER · 26.1° N

Fort Lauderdale spends December at 77.7°F by day and 64.7°F at night, with 2.78 inches of rain spread across the whole month and an ocean still reading 79.3°F. Daylight is the trade: 10 hours 33 minutes on December 15, with the sun gone by 5:32 pm. You swim in the afternoon and eat dinner in the dark.

The Atlantic hurricane season closes on November 30, so a December trip is booked without one eye on the tropics. The calendar fills instead: Christmas and New Year land in the same fortnight, and Broward County adds a 6.0% transient rental tax on top of the 6% state sales tax. For the parts of a Florida trip that don’t move with the month, see the state’s month-by-month verdict and what Florida costs.

On this page

• Fort Lauderdale weather in DecemberHighs of 77.7°F and 4.2 wet days
• Is the ocean warm enough to swim?Sea at 79.3°F, and how that average is taken
• Crowds and taxes over the holiday weeksThe 6% Broward tax and when to lock the nights
• Things to do in DecemberMizell-Johnson, Hugh Taylor Birch, Oleta River
• A two-day plan for a December weekendHour by hour, around a 5:32 pm sunset
• December, November or January?How the three months compare
• Is December a good time to visit?Who should book it, who should shift

One caution before the numbers: every air figure here comes from a single thermometer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, about three miles inland from the sand, and not from a beach sensor. The sea reading comes from somewhere else entirely, a marine model averaged over 2015-2024. Fares are the gap we could not close: the transit and park price pages either returned errors or render only inside a browser, so no fare and no entrance fee is quoted below. Car and transit logistics sit in the Florida transport guide.

Fort Lauderdale weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days

The normals below come from NOAA NCEI’s 1991-2020 series for station USW00012849, listed as FT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD AP: one gauge, at the airport, roughly three miles inland. It puts December’s average high at 77.7°F and the average low at 64.7°F. A reanalysis grid cell answers the same question differently, so a weather app will not always match these figures.

Measurable rain falls on 4.2 days in an average December, counting days that record at least 0.10 inch, which works out to about one day in seven. Only 0.4 day reaches a full inch, so a genuine soaker turns up in roughly two Decembers out of five. The monthly total is 2.78 inches, against November’s 3.69.

A 13.0°F spread separates that high from that low. The same day that puts you in the water at 2 pm has you reaching for a long sleeve by 8 pm, so one layer for evenings and one for restaurant air conditioning covers the whole trip. Remember where the gauge sits: 64.7°F is an inland number and a rough guide to a night on the sand with a breeze off the water.

On December 15 the sun rises at 6:59 am and sets at 5:32 pm local time, converted from the 11:59 and 22:32 UTC that sunrise-sunset.org publishes, for 10 hours 33 minutes of daylight. Put the beach in the middle of the day and the boardwalk before five. Anything scheduled after 5:30 pm happens in the dark.

Can you swim in Fort Lauderdale in December? The sea at 79.3°F

Open-Meteo’s marine model puts the sea surface off Fort Lauderdale at 79.3°F for December, averaged over 2015-2024. Read the small print with it: that average is built from daily maxima, so it runs a shade warmer than a 24-hour mean would. Tables that average around the clock will show a slightly lower number for the same water.

At 79.3°F the ocean runs warmer than the air above it on the average December day, since the average high is 77.7°F. You go in without ceremony and come out to a breeze that feels colder than the sea did. Swim after noon rather than at 7 am, when the air is still near its 64.7°F low, and bring a towel big enough to wrap in.

Wind and swell are where our sources stop. We could not read a December wind or wave series for this stretch of coast, so no figure for either goes here. What the calendar does say is that the Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks on September 10, per NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, and December sits outside it.

How busy is Fort Lauderdale in December? Crowds, the holiday weeks and the Broward lodging tax

December runs on fixed dates rather than on a curve we can measure. Christmas and New Year fall inside the month, and the two weeks around them are when families travel. We hold no occupancy series and no monthly room rate for Fort Lauderdale, so nothing here ranks December against the other eleven months on price. For the scale of arrivals: FLL boarded 17,096,131 passengers across all of calendar year 2024, which the FAA classes a large hub.

Booking is what those dates change. Take the following as editorial rather than measured: lock the nights from December 20 to January 2 first, several weeks out, and keep the first ten days of the month flexible. Flights follow the same split, and the airport choice between FLL and MIA is covered in the Florida flights guide.

Two taxes land on a Fort Lauderdale room. Broward County levies a 6.0% transient rental tax, filed and paid alongside the 6% state sales tax, per the Florida Department of Revenue’s form DR-15TDT. Together they add 12% to the rate, before any resort fee or parking charge the property applies on top.

If one budget line is worth stretching in December, it’s the walk to the sand. Sunset at 5:32 pm shortens the useful afternoon, and a room you leave on foot gives back the half hour a drive and a parking lot take. Parking matters at the parks too: Hugh Taylor Birch counts 275 spaces against Mizell-Johnson’s 1,410, per Florida’s 2024 state inventory.

Things to do in Fort Lauderdale in December: Mizell-Johnson, Hugh Taylor Birch and Oleta River

December lets you use the ocean and a trail on the same day. The water sits at 79.3°F while the air tops out near 77.7°F, so a midday walk of a couple of miles does not end in a shower and a nap. November delivers a warmer sea at 82.1°F, and it also delivers 4.8 wet days and the tail of the hurricane season.

Three state parks carry the month, and Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection counts what is inside them. Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park: 2.2 miles of beach, one designated swimming area, 2.6 miles of hiking trail, 4,531 feet of boardwalk, 1,410 parking spaces. Hugh Taylor Birch State Park: 0.1 mile of beach, one swimming area, 0.3 mile of trail, 60 feet of boardwalk, one canoe, kayak and tube launch, 275 spaces. Oleta River State Park, on the bay side: 0.3 mile of beach, two launches, 925 spaces. Entrance fees and opening hours we could not read from the operators, so none is quoted.

The parks do not change in December; the air over them does. The ocean at Mizell-Johnson has dropped 2.8°F since November and will drop another 1.7°F by January, while the average high falls 3.1°F across the same four weeks. The trail is what gains from that: 2.6 miles under a 77.7°F ceiling is a different walk from 2.6 miles under 80.8°F.

No fee-free day at any of the three parks appears in our sources for December, and their fee pages did not load for us, so plan on paying at the gate. What costs nothing is the hour before a 5:32 pm sunset, which in December arrives early enough to sit inside an ordinary afternoon rather than at the end of a long evening.

Fort Lauderdale in December: a two-day itinerary

Day one: sunrise at 6:59 am if you can face it, breakfast if you can’t. Walk the sand before 10, drive to Mizell-Johnson for the 2.6-mile trail while the air is still under its 77.7°F ceiling, and swim at 2 pm, the warmest end of the afternoon. Be back on the beach by 5 for the 5:32 pm sunset. Dinner happens after dark whatever you plan, so take the late table and a layer for a night heading toward 64.7°F.

Day two belongs to the water. Hugh Taylor Birch gives you a 0.3-mile trail, its single launch and a crossing of A1A to the sand; Oleta River gives you two launches and flat bay water instead. If the day lands among the month’s 4.2 wet ones, move the swim rather than scrap it, since only 0.4 day in an average December records a full inch. For a washout, regional indoor options are in things to do in Florida.

Fort Lauderdale in December vs November and January

Set the three side by side and December lands in the middle on everything except rain, where it comes in lowest at 2.78 inches. Days run 3.1°F cooler than November and 2.1°F warmer than January. Nights move further: 3.6°F below November, 3.8°F above January. The sea follows the same slope, 82.1°F to 79.3°F to 77.6°F, though that series comes from the marine model over 2015-2024 rather than from the NOAA station.

Shift four weeks earlier and you gain the warmest water of the three plus 3.1°F of daytime air, and you take on 3.69 inches over 4.8 wet days and the last thirty days of hurricane season. Shift four weeks later and January hands you the fewest wet days of the three at 3.8, with a sea still at 77.6°F, for nights near 60.9°F. Both neighbors have their own write-ups: November and January.

Is December a good time to visit Fort Lauderdale?

Yes for anyone who came to swim. The sea averages 79.3°F on daily maxima, above the month’s 77.7°F average high, and the hurricane season closed on November 30. No if you want long days or a beach without holiday traffic: daylight runs 10 hours 33 minutes on the 15th, and Christmas and New Year sit in the last two weeks.

When the answer is no, January is the closer substitute than November: 3.8 wet days against December’s 4.2, 2.90 inches of rain, a sea still at 77.6°F, and the bill is 60.9°F nights. November buys warmth instead, 80.8°F days and an 82.1°F ocean, with 4.8 wet days and a hurricane season that does not close until the 30th.

Of the three, only December pairs a sea near 80°F with a month sitting entirely outside the June 1 to November 30 season.

The last word

Book the room before anything else: the nights from December 20 onward are the constraint, and the 2.6-mile trail at Mizell-Johnson will be there whenever you show up. If the beach hotels are gone by the time you decide, Florida’s 2024 inventory counts 14 cabins at Oleta River State Park, on the bay side and inside the metro area, with two paddle launches at the door. Then keep one clear afternoon free before 5:32 pm, because that is the hour the light goes.

Sources & data for this guide

• December normals, highs, lows and precipitation · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012849 (Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International) · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Rain-day counts, 4.2 days at 0.10 in and 0.4 day at 1.00 in · same NOAA series · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Station identity and inland position · NCEI Search service, station name FT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD AP · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Sea surface 79.3°F, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Daylight and sunrise/sunset for December 15, converted to America/New_York · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Hurricane season dates and September 10 peak · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Broward 6.0% transient rental tax with the 6% state sales tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 12, 2026
• Park counts: parking, beach, trail, boardwalk, launches, cabins · Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 annual report · checked Sep 12, 2026
• FLL boardings 17,096,131 in CY2024 · Federal Aviation Administration · checked Sep 12, 2026
• What we could not verify: transit fares, park entrance fees and park opening hours. The operator pages returned errors or rendered only in a browser on Sep 11, 2026, so no amount for them appears above. Booking advice and packing notes are editorial.