WEEKI WACHEE SPRINGS · FLORIDA · DECEMBER
December afternoons here average 73.0°F, and the spring underneath has no season at all. That gap between a cool month of air and water the calendar never touches is the whole reason the date is worth thinking about before you drive out.
The mornings are the trade. An average December low of 47.6°F and 3.4 nights at or below freezing make this a month of fleece at nine and short sleeves at two. The good part: the state park’s 255 parking spaces, the thing that shuts a summer Saturday, almost never decide a December weekday.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · DECEMBER
Cool, mostly dry air over a spring that keeps its own temperature all year: December is the month to paddle long and swim short, and to be at the gate in the first hour.
AVG HIGH 73.0°F · AVG LOW 47.6°F · 10H 23M OF DAYLIGHT ON DEC 15
Go for: paddling from the park’s single canoe, kayak and tube launch in 73°F air, and a lot that rarely reaches its 255-space limit outside the summer peak.
Think twice before: promising children a long float. Mornings start near 47.6°F, and we could not verify a water temperature reading for the spring itself.
Air normals: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, Brooksville Hernando Co AP · Park facilities: Florida DEP 2024 inventory · full sources at the end
On this page
- Weeki Wachee Springs weather in DecemberHighs of 73.0°F, lows of 47.6°F, 3.4 rain days
- How cold the mornings get3.4 freeze nights in an average December
- Crowds and parking in December255 spaces, and when they matter
- Things to do at the spring in DecemberOne swimming area, one paddle launch
- A two-day plan around 10 hours of daylightDay one and day two, hour by hour
- December, November or January?How the three months compare on air and rain
- Is December a good time to go?The verdict for paddlers and for swimmers
Neighboring months have their own pages: November runs warmer and drier, January colder and wetter. Everything that is true all year, from where to sleep to what the trip costs, sits on the main Weeki Wachee guide and on our Florida cost guide.
Weeki Wachee Springs weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | December, 1991-2020 normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 73.0°F |
| Average low | 47.6°F |
| Precipitation | 2.56 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.4 |
| Days with 1.00 in or more | 0.6 |
| Nights at 32°F or below | 3.4 |
| Daylight on Dec 15 | 10 h 23 m |
The normals below come from NOAA NCEI’s 1991-2020 monthly series for station USW00012818, the Brooksville Hernando County Airport, a real thermometer roughly 44 km inland, about 27 miles from the spring. That is a station record rather than a grid-cell reanalysis, and the difference between the two is worth knowing when you read a number. December there averages a high of 73.0°F, a low of 47.6°F and 2.56 inches of precipitation. Every figure here describes the air. The water in the spring run keeps its own temperature all year, and we could not verify a reading for it.
Rain is the small worry. An average December records measurable rain on 3.4 days at 0.10 inch or more, which works out to roughly one day in nine. Eight days out of nine, in other words, the swim is on. Treat the first clear morning of your stay as the one you use, rather than the last.
The day-night spread is 25.4°F, and it decides the bag more than the total does. You want a fleece or a light jacket for the drive in and the first hour at the water, a swimsuit under dry clothes rather than in a bag, and a towel big enough to be a coat. Nothing about a 47.6°F dawn is Florida as the brochures sell it.
Light is the real constraint. On December 15 the sun rises at 7:14 a.m. Eastern and sets at 5:37 p.m., giving 10 hours 23 minutes between them, per sunrise-sunset.org. The warm part of that window is narrow: anything you want to do wet belongs between late morning and about four.
How warm is Weeki Wachee Springs in December?
Top and bottom of the average December day: 73.0°F and 47.6°F, a spread of 25.4°F. That is the narrowest gap of the three winter months at this station, tighter than November’s 25.6°F and January’s 26.4°F, so December days climb from cold to pleasant on a fairly short ladder and do it most days.
In practice you dress twice. At nine you are in long sleeves watching your breath over the water; by one or two the jacket is on the bench and 73°F feels generous for a state park in winter. Changing rooms and a car within sight of the launch matter more in December than in July, because the walk back from the water in wet clothes is the coldest ten minutes of the trip.
Freezes are real and they are not rare: 3.4 nights in an average December fall to 32°F or below at Brooksville. Those are the mornings when the windshield needs scraping before a 7:14 a.m. departure, and when a 9 a.m. swim stops being a reasonable plan for anyone under twelve.
How busy is Weeki Wachee Springs in December?
December falls inside Florida’s dry season, the November-to-April stretch our best-time guide lays out, and that is a calendar fact rather than a price one. We found no occupancy series and no monthly room-rate series for Hernando County, so we crown no month cheap and no month expensive. What we can say is that school holidays land in the back half of the month and the front half does not have them.
The constraint worth planning around is not a room, it is a parking space. Florida DEP’s 2024 recreational facilities inventory counts 255 spaces at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, and when the lot fills the gate closes. That is what settles a summer Saturday. In December it bites far less often, and arriving in the first hour after opening beats booking eight weeks out. Call before you drive to confirm the opening hour.
On lodging tax: we could not verify Hernando County’s tourist development tax rate, so we give no percentage. Budget the room and the rental on the state-wide picture in our Florida cost guide, and assume a local bed tax you will see on the folio rather than in the nightly rate.
One spend genuinely changes a December visit: staying close enough to be at the gate within that first hour, instead of driving over from Tampa or Orlando and arriving mid-morning. Where to stay in Florida sorts the regions. The second is a wetsuit top if anyone in the party intends a proper swim rather than a five-minute dare.
Things to do in Weeki Wachee Springs in December
December gives you the version of this park that summer cannot: a paddle at noon without heat, a lot that rarely reaches its limit on a weekday, and air cool enough that the walk between the water and the car is the only uncomfortable part of the day. Tubing season logic runs the other way, and the crowds run with it.
What the state actually counts at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is short and useful: one designated swimming area, one canoe, kayak and tube launch, and 255 parking spaces, all from the Florida DEP 2024 inventory. The spring is protected under Florida Statute 373.802(5) as an Outstanding Florida Spring, the class covering every historic first-magnitude spring the Florida Geological Survey identifies.
December changes the air around all of that and nothing in the water. A spring run holds its temperature through the year while the air above it swings 25.4°F between dawn and mid-afternoon, and that contrast is what makes a winter visit feel different from a July one. Bring the swim into the 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. block and the difference works for you instead of against you.
We could not verify the park’s entrance fee, and we found no December manatee count for this run, so we name nothing free and promise no animals. Our manatee guide covers where Florida’s winter gatherings are documented, and the park itself is the place to call for the current gate price.
Weeki Wachee Springs in December: a two-day itinerary
Day one runs on the light. Sunrise on December 15 is 7:14 a.m. Eastern, so leave in the dark and be at the gate in the first hour, when those 255 spaces are least contested. Walk the swimming area in a fleece while the air sits near 47.6°F, eat early, then take the water between one and four as the average day tops out at 73.0°F. Pack up by 4:45: sunset is 5:37 p.m., and 10 hours 23 minutes of daylight leaves no margin for a second attempt.
Day two belongs to the paddle from the launch, started late morning rather than at dawn, with dry clothes waiting in the car. If your day is the one in nine that records 0.10 inch or more, swap it: drive the Gulf coast, save the water for the following morning, and use our Florida things-to-do guide for the indoor half of the afternoon. Getting around Florida has the drive times.
Weeki Wachee Springs in December vs November and January
| Measure | November | December | January |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 77.9°F | 73.0°F | 70.7°F |
| Average low | 52.3°F | 47.6°F | 44.3°F |
| Precipitation | 1.59 in | 2.56 in | 3.01 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.0 | 3.4 | 4.2 |
Against November, December gives up 4.9°F of afternoon warmth and 4.7°F of overnight warmth, and takes on almost an inch more rain, 2.56 inches against 1.59. Against January, it keeps 2.3°F more by day, 3.3°F more by night and nearly half an inch less precipitation. Rain days climb steadily across the three, from 3.0 to 3.4 to 4.2. The spring water sits outside this table entirely, since it does not move with the season the way the air does.
Shift four weeks earlier and you buy the warmest, driest of the three months and pay for it with Thanksgiving week traffic on the lot. Shift four weeks later and you save nothing measurable on the air, lose most of a degree of comfort at every hour, and add nearly a day of rain to the month. December is the compromise that still swims.
Is December a good time to visit Weeki Wachee Springs?
Yes for paddlers, for photographers and for anyone who wants the park without the summer arithmetic of a closing gate. Less so for a family whose whole plan is a long float with small children: a 47.6°F start and 3.4 freeze nights a month make the water a short, bracing event rather than an afternoon.
If that describes your group, take November instead. It runs 77.9°F by day, 52.3°F at night and 1.59 inches of rain across 3.0 wet days, which is the warmest and driest of the three months at this station. The cost is company, since the school calendar and the mild air both point at the same weekends.
What no other month here offers is this pairing: a 73.0°F afternoon over water that never cools, with the 255-space lot rarely close to full.
The last word
Make one call and set one alarm. The call is to the park, because we could not verify its hours or its entrance fee, and the alarm is for a departure that puts you at the gate inside the first hour. The rest is weather you can count on: only 0.6 day in an average December brings an inch or more of rain, three such days across five Decembers, and those are the only ones that will actually cost you the swim.
Sources & data for this guide
- December air normals, rain days and freeze nights · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012818, Brooksville Hernando Co AP, about 44 km from the spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- November and January normals used in the comparison · same NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 series and station · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise and sunset on December 15, converted to Eastern time · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- 255 parking spaces, one designated swimming area, one canoe, kayak and tube launch · Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 annual report · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Outstanding Florida Springs definition · Florida Statutes 373.802(5) · checked Sep 24, 2026
- What we could not verify: the park’s entrance fee, its opening hours, the spring’s water temperature and any December manatee count. floridastateparks.org returned 403 to our automated reads and the state’s manatee page renders client-side · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Hernando County’s lodging tax rate is not in our sources, so we give no percentage · call the park and check your folio.
To plan your stay
- Best Time to Visit Weeki Wachee Springs: Month-by-Month Highs, Lows, Rain Days and the Swim Season
- Weeki Wachee Springs in January: Weather, Crowds and Parking
- Weeki Wachee Springs in November: Weather, Crowds and Whether You Can Swim
- Weeki Wachee Springs in February: Air Temperatures, Rain Days and Parking