Key West in November: Weather, Sea Temperature, Crowds and Costs

KEY WEST · NOVEMBER · 24.55° N

The rain leaves Key West in November. The airport gauge logs 2.05 inches for the month against 5.67 in October, and the count of soggy days drops from 7.6 to 3.0. Days settle at 81.0°F, nights at 72.2°F, and the water off the island holds 81.2°F, near enough to the air that the first swim happens on arrival day.

What the date takes back: the Atlantic hurricane season runs to November 30, so the whole month sits inside the official window even though the September 10 peak is two months behind. Daylight is down to 10 hours 59 minutes by the 15th, and the sun sets at 5:41 p.m. Dinner in Key West happens after dark all month.

On this page

• Average temperature and rain in November81.0°F by day, 2.05 inches of rain
• Sea temperature for swimming81.2°F off Key West
• Crowds, lodging tax and when to bookThe 5% county tax and the ferry that sells out
• Things to do in NovemberFort Zachary Taylor, the Hemingway Home, Mallory Square
• A two-day planTwo days set around a 5:41 p.m. sunset
• November vs October and DecemberHow the three months compare
• Is November a good month for Key West?Yes for swimmers, with one caveat about the storm calendar

Getting here is the one thing November leaves alone. EYW takes flights straight onto the island, and the drive from Miami runs about 155 miles and close to three hours forty minutes without a stop, longer once you start pulling over along the Overseas Highway. Our Florida road trip guide handles the bridges and the Key West guide handles beds and neighborhoods. Budget for a rental car only if you plan to leave the island.

Key West weather in November: average highs, lows and rain days

Every figure here comes from one thermometer: NOAA NCEI’s 1991–2020 monthly normals for station USW00012836, the gauge at Key West International Airport. That station puts the November average high at 81.0°F, the average low at 72.2°F and monthly precipitation at 2.05 inches. A gridded reanalysis averages island and open ocean together in a single cell and does not necessarily read the same, so it is worth knowing which one you are looking at.

Three days in an average November collect at least 0.10 inch of rain, so measurable weather turns up about one day in ten. An inch or more falls on 0.5 day, meaning a genuine soaking arrives in roughly every other November. October runs 7.6 days over that same threshold. In practice you can put the beach day, the boat day and the walking day in any order and expect the plan to hold.

Day and night sit 8.8°F apart, which is nothing to pack for. One long-sleeve shirt covers a boat ride home after dark and the air conditioning indoors, where most Key West restaurants run cold. Leave the fleece at home, bring a rain shell that folds into a pocket for those three wet days, and count on swimwear drying overnight on a balcony rail.

On November 15 the sun rises at 6:42 a.m. and sets at 5:41 p.m. Eastern, giving 10 hours 59 minutes of daylight. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square starts about two hours before sunset and runs every night of the year, weather permitting, so the crowd begins forming around a quarter to four. Anything you want to photograph outdoors has to happen before six.

Can you swim in Key West in November? Sea temperature and what it feels like

The sea surface off Key West averages 81.2°F in November, from the Open-Meteo Marine series over 2015 to 2024. One caveat changes how you read that number: it is the mean of daily maxima, not a 24-hour mean, so it sits a shade warmer than the figure a full-day average would give. Tables built the other way will quote you something lower for the same water, and neither is wrong.

At 81°F nobody rents a wetsuit. An hour of snorkeling is comfortable in swim trunks, children stay in until somebody calls them out, and the entry costs no nerve at all. December takes 3.6°F off that number. It sounds small. It is the difference between wading in with your arms up and simply getting in.

We could not verify monthly wind or wave normals for the waters around Key West, so we give no figures for either. The geography we can state: Dry Tortugas National Park lies 70 miles west with no road and no bridge, reached by ferry or seaplane, and the crossing is open water in both directions. A rough morning is the captain’s call, so place that day early in the trip and keep a spare day behind it.

How busy is Key West in November? Crowds, prices and the demand peak

Two calendars overlap this month. NOAA’s hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, so all thirty days sit inside the official window, even with the September 10 peak and the busy mid-August to mid-October stretch behind you. The second calendar is the rain gauge, and it has already turned: 2.05 inches against October’s 5.67. We found no occupancy series and no room-rate series for Key West, so we name no month the cheapest and none the busiest.

One booking carries a hard deadline. The Yankee Freedom III to Dry Tortugas sells out weeks ahead, so put at least a month between your reservation and the sailing. The boat leaves at 8 a.m. and check-in closes at 7:30. Flights into EYW and a bed inside Old Town are the other two things to lock early. The rest of a Key West week can be decided over breakfast.

Your room bill carries Monroe County’s 5% transient rental tax, filed and paid with the 6% state sales tax, so eleven cents on every lodging dollar goes to tax before a property adds anything of its own. We verified no resort fee schedule for any Key West hotel, so budget the eleven percent and read the property’s fine print for the rest. Our Florida trip cost guide takes the week as a whole.

The upgrade that pays in November is location, not a view. A bed inside Old Town deletes the parking line, and that line is real: street meters at $3.00 an hour, the Old Town Parking Garage at $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax, the Mallory Square lot at $7 an hour or $48 a day with a ten-hour maximum, the Key West Bight lot at $5 an hour or $40 a day. Old Town is flat, compact and the largest wooden historic district in North America.

Things to do in Key West in November

November is the month the boat day and the beach day stop competing for the same weather. With 3.0 wet days on the books and water at 81.2°F, Dry Tortugas, an afternoon in the sea and a full day on foot all fit inside 72 hours with a reasonable chance of happening as planned. October gives the warmer sea and 7.6 wet days to schedule around. December gives the dry calendar and a sea 3.6°F cooler.

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park holds the beach most often called the best on the island, within walking distance of Old Town: $6.00 per vehicle for up to eight people plus a $0.50 county surcharge per person, $4.50 for a single-occupant car or motorcycle, $2.50 on foot or by bicycle, open 8 a.m. to sundown every day of the year. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum takes walk-ins from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, $19 for adults, $7 for children, free under 6.

The fort building itself closes at 5 p.m. On November 15 that is 41 minutes before sunset, so the sand keeps going after the history stops. Water is the figure the month barely moves, 81.2°F now against 77.6°F in December. Air does the moving: 81.0°F here against October’s 85.8°F, and those 4.8°F turn a midday walk through the wooden streets into something you do without hunting for shade. Mile Marker 0 at Whitehead and Fleming, where US-1 begins its roughly 2,370 miles to Fort Kent, Maine, is a two-minute stop.

Free this month as every month: the Duval Loop bus, 18 stops through Old Town, no fare, no airport service. Published frequencies disagree, one source giving every 20 minutes from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and another every 30 minutes from 6 to 10 a.m. then every 15 until midnight, so read the sign at the stop rather than trusting either. The Sunset Celebration costs nothing and runs nightly. So does standing at Mile Marker 0 with a camera.

Key West in November: a two-day itinerary

Day one runs between a 6:42 a.m. sunrise and a 5:41 p.m. sunset. Coffee early, the Hemingway Home at 9 when the doors open, $19 for adults, with the museum’s own account of its polydactyl cats descending from Snow White. Old Town on foot until lunch. Fort Zachary Taylor from 2 p.m., $2.50 if you walked in, swimming at 81.2°F. Out by 3:30 for Mallory Square. Dinner after dark, key lime pie after that: Florida’s official state pie since 2006, made with sweetened condensed milk.

Day two belongs to Dry Tortugas if you booked it: check-in before 7:30 a.m., sailing at 8, about $250 for an adult in 2026 with park entry, snorkel gear, breakfast and lunch included, 70 miles of open water each way. If the sky turns, and three days in an average November do, the fallback stays cheap. The Hemingway Home keeps its 9 to 5 whatever the weather, the Duval Loop carries you between stops for free, and Fort Zachary Taylor stays open to sundown regardless.

Key West in November vs October and December

Across the three months the shape is plain. Highs run 85.8°F in October, 81.0°F in November, 77.7°F in December. Rain collapses from 5.67 inches to 2.05, then holds near there at 2.16, and the wet-day count follows: 7.6, then 3.0, then 3.1. The sea steps down more slowly, 84.2°F to 81.2°F to 77.6°F, because water gives up its heat at its own pace. November’s position is dry air over a sea that has not cooled yet.

Shift four weeks earlier and you buy 3.0°F of sea temperature and 4.8°F of daytime warmth, paying 3.62 more inches of rain and 4.6 extra wet days for them. Shift four weeks later and December closes the hurricane window on November 30 and keeps the dry calendar, at a cost of 3.6°F in the water and 3.3°F in the air. Our October page makes the same comparison from the wetter side of the line.

Is November a good time to visit Key West?

Yes, for anyone whose trip is built around water. Sea at 81.2°F, 3.0 wet days, air at 81.0°F: that is the combination people have in mind when they picture the Keys. No, for two kinds of traveler. If you need a reservation you cannot afford to lose, the Atlantic season stays open until November 30. And if your idea of the islands involves long light evenings, the sun is gone by 5:41 p.m. on the 15th.

When the answer is no, December is the straightforward swap: the storm window shuts on November 30, rain holds at 2.16 inches across 3.1 wet days, and days run 77.7°F. You give up the swimming, 77.6°F instead of 81.2°F. Most people notice that within a minute of getting in. October goes the other way, 84.2°F water and 7.6 days of rain to plan around, which is a trade worth making only if you swim more than you walk.

October has the warmer water and almost three times the rain. December has the dry calendar and a sea below 78°F. November is the only one of the three that gives you both at once.

The last word

Book the Tortugas boat first and let the rest of the week arrange itself around an 8 a.m. sailing; everything else on this island can wait until breakfast. One November footnote worth carrying: in November 2020 Key West voters approved three limits on cruise traffic, a cap of 1,500 disembarking passengers a day, a ban on ships carrying more than 1,300 people, and docking priority for the cleanest operators. Governor Ron DeSantis then signed SB 1194, written to apply retroactively, and the limits were nullified. The big ships still call, so if a calm Mallory Square matters to you, be there when the Sunset Celebration opens, around a quarter to four.

Sources & data for this guide

• November highs, lows, precipitation and wet-day counts · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991–2020, station USW00012836 (Key West International Airport) · checked Sep 23, 2026
• October and December normals used in the comparison · same NOAA NCEI series and station · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Sea surface 81.2°F, mean of daily maxima 2015–2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Daylight, sunrise and sunset for November 15, converted to America/New_York · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Hurricane season dates and the September 10 peak · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 23, 2026
• 5% transient rental tax with the 6% state sales tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Fort Zachary Taylor fees and hours · Florida State Parks · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Hemingway Home hours, admission and the cats · hemingwayhome.com · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Yankee Freedom III schedule and 2026 adult fare · drytortugas.com · checked Sep 23, 2026 · fare subject to change
• Parking rates, meters and lots · City of Key West Parking Department · checked Sep 23, 2026 · rates change
• Duval Loop stops and frequency · City of Key West and local guides · checked Sep 23, 2026 · sources disagree on frequency and span, so we give both versions
• Mile Marker 0 and the length of US-1 · Atlas Obscura and Key West Travel Guide · checked Sep 23, 2026 · sources give 2,369 or 2,390 miles, so we round
• Cruise referendum of November 2020 and SB 1194 · Florida Politics and Seatrade Cruise · checked Sep 23, 2026
• We found no occupancy or room-rate series for Key West and no wind or wave normals for the month, so we publish no figures for either.

To plan your stay

• Things to Do in Key West: Hours, Prices, Hemingway House and the Dry Tortugas Ferry
• Where to Stay in Key West: Old Town, New Town and What Parking Costs
• Key West Airport to Old Town: Transfers, Parking and the Drive from Miami
• What to Know Before You Go to Key West: Parking, the Free Duval Loop, Sunset and the Dry Tortugas Ferry

Nearby places

• Everglades National Park: The Complete Visitor's Guide
• Big Cypress National Preserve: Dark Sky Park, Swamp Buggies and the $100 ORV Permit
• Dry Tortugas National Park: Ferry, the $15 Entrance Fee and Camping on Garden Key