FLORIDA · MADISON BLUE SPRING · OCTOBER
October takes 7.3°F off the average afternoon at Madison Blue Spring, drops the dawn reading to 56.8°F, and leaves the one thing you came for untouched. The water at the vent read 73.2°F on September 11, 2026, and a spring keeps no season. What the calendar moves here is the air above it, and the arithmetic of getting out of the water.
So this is a date question, not a place question. October hands you a drier month than September (3.71 inches against 4.22), enough afternoon warmth to dry off in, and a 7:02 p.m. sunset that still allows an unhurried drive out. It takes away the hot, swimsuit-all-day stretch you get in September, when afternoons average 87.8°F. For the spring in every season, our Madison Blue Spring guide is the place to start.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · MADISON BLUE SPRING · OCTOBER
Come in October for 80.5°F afternoons over water that holds near 73.2°F, and pack the dry layer for a 56.8°F dawn.
AIR NORMALS 1991–2020, NOAA · WATER READ SEP 11, 2026 · SUNSET 7:02 P.M. ON OCT 15
Go for: the last of these three months whose average afternoon, 80.5°F, runs warmer than the 73.2°F water, with rain already down to 3.71 inches from September’s 4.22.
Think twice before: building a day around swimming or a paddle launch: Florida’s 2024 recreational facilities inventory lists no designated swimming area here, and no canoe, kayak or tube launch either.
Air: NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, Valdosta Regional AP · Water: USGS gauge 02319302 · Facilities: FDEP 2024 inventory
On this page
- Madison Blue Spring weather in October80.5°F highs, 4.1 wet days
- How cold the spring water is in October73.2°F at the vent, year-round
- Crowds, booking and prices in OctoberWhy we publish no fee and no tax rate
- Things to do at the spring in OctoberThe vent, the statute and what the inventory lists
- A two-day plan around the springTwo days paced to a 7:02 p.m. sunset
- October or November at Madison Blue SpringNovember runs 9.1°F cooler by day
- Is October a good month to visitThe call for divers, swimmers and sunbathers
Two caveats before the numbers. Every air figure here comes from a thermometer about 27 miles away in Georgia, at an airport, not from the treeline over the water. And the water figure is a single instantaneous gauge reading, not a monthly mean. Both sources are named where they are used, and again in the sources at the end.
Madison Blue Spring weather in October: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | October |
|---|---|
| Average high | 80.5°F |
| Average low | 56.8°F |
| Precipitation | 3.71 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 4.1 |
| Days with 1.00 in or more | 0.7 |
| Daylight on Oct 15 | 11h 28m |
| Spring water | 73.2°F (read Sep 11, 2026) |
The normals here are NOAA NCEI’s 1991-2020 monthly set for station USW00093845, Valdosta Regional Airport in Georgia, a real thermometer about 27 miles from the spring rather than a modeled grid cell. It gives October an average high of 80.5°F, an average low of 56.8°F and 3.71 inches of rain across the month. Those figures describe the air. The spring underneath runs on its own thermostat and ignores the calendar.
Rain arrives on 4.1 days in an average October, counting days that record at least 0.10 inch. That is roughly one day in eight. Only 0.7 day reaches an inch or more, so a genuine soaking turns up in about seven Octobers out of ten. The rest of the 3.71 inches comes in amounts that wet a towel and move on. For how this sits in Florida’s wet and dry seasons, see our best-time-to-visit guide.
The gap between 80.5°F and 56.8°F is 23.7°F inside one day, wider than September’s 21.3°F swing. It decides the packing more than the rain does: a fleece and dry socks for the first hours, a shirt you can shed by noon, and a second towel in the car. At dawn the 73.2°F water sits 16.4°F above the air. By mid-afternoon it sits 7.3°F below it.
October 15 gives 11 hours 28 minutes of daylight, with sunrise at 7:34 a.m. and sunset at 7:02 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The sunset marks the start of the drive home: dressing, hauling gear and the wet-to-dry changeover all want the last hour of light. Aim to be out of the water around 5:30 p.m. and the day still holds together if the afternoon runs long.
How warm is Madison Blue Spring in October?
The USGS gauge at the spring, station 02319302, read 73.2°F (22.9°C) on September 11, 2026. That is an instantaneous reading rather than a monthly average, and it is still the number to plan around, because the gauge lands close to it every day of the year. Above the water, October’s air swings between an average high of 80.5°F and an average low of 56.8°F, 23.7°F apart.
At 8 a.m. the air is nearer 57°F than 80°F, and the water is the warm part of the morning by 16.4°F. Dress for the parking lot rather than the spring: long sleeves, a hat, something windproof to pull on over a wet suit or a wet swimsuit. By 3 p.m. the average afternoon runs 7.3°F above the water, and that is the hour to plan the longest session of the day.
On freezing nights, we could not verify a count of October nights at or below 32°F at the Valdosta station, so we publish none. What the normals do give is that average low of 56.8°F, some 9.7°F under September’s 66.5°F and 10.2°F above November’s 46.6°F. A chilly pre-dawn in October is ordinary, and anyone camping or driving in early should plan for it.
How busy is Madison Blue Spring in October?
We found no occupancy series and no monthly room-rate series for this corner of north Florida, so we crown no month expensive and no month cheap. What can be said sits on the calendar: October falls in the school year, after the summer heat and before the holiday weeks, which is a different demand story from July or Thanksgiving. The state-wide cost picture is laid out in our Florida trip-cost guide.
Lead time is the next question, and we cannot answer it with a number: we read no reservation system and no capacity figure for the park. The workable approach is to treat the drive as the fixed cost and the bed as the flexible one, booking a night within reach and giving yourself both weekend days rather than one. Our where-to-stay guide covers the regions, and getting around Florida covers the car this trip needs.
We could not verify the lodging-tax rate charged locally, so we give no percentage. Ask the property what goes on top of the quoted rate before you book a night, because in Florida the quoted room rate and the folio total are rarely the same figure.
One upgrade genuinely changes October at a spring, and it is warmth out of the water. The water holds near 73.2°F whatever you spend; the air at 7:30 a.m. averages 56.8°F, and that is what ends a session early. Thicker exposure protection, a changing robe, a second towel and a thermos buy extra minutes in the water, and they cost less than a night’s difference in a room.
Things to do in Madison Blue Spring in October
October is the last of these three months whose average afternoon, 80.5°F, runs warmer than the spring. November’s average high of 71.4°F falls 1.8°F below the 73.2°F reading, so from then on you dry off in air cooler than the water you just left. September has the warmth, at 87.8°F, but also 4.22 inches of rain across 5.2 wet days against October’s 3.71 inches and 4.1.
Madison Blue Spring State Park is the address, and the water is the attraction: 73.2°F at the vent on the day the gauge was read. Florida law protects a class called Outstanding Florida Springs under Statute 373.802(5), covering every historic first-magnitude spring as the Florida Geological Survey determines them, plus six named by hand in the statute. Florida’s 2024 recreational facilities inventory lists no designated swimming area here, and no canoe, kayak or tube launch.
Nothing in the water shifts between September and November. That 73.2°F reading would look the same in July and in January. What moves is the 23.7°F daily swing of the air above it, and the difference that makes to how long anyone stays in. In practice October buys a late-morning start and a long afternoon, where September allows an all-day rhythm and November shortens the useful window at both ends.
What a day here costs, we cannot tell you: floridastateparks.org returns 403 to automated reads, so we could not confirm an entrance fee or an opening hour, and we invent neither. Same for wildlife: the FWC manatee pages render client-side and we read no count for this water. Call the park before you build a morning around either, and our know-before-you-go guide has the state-park habits that do carry over.
Madison Blue Spring in October: a two-day itinerary
Day one starts later than instinct suggests. Sunrise is 7:34 a.m. and the air is near 56.8°F, so reach the parking lot between 10 and 11, once the climb toward 80.5°F is under way. First entry around noon, the longest session between 1 and 3 p.m. when the air sits warmest above the 73.2°F water, then out by 5:30 p.m. with an hour of light left for gear, dry clothes and the road. Sunset is 7:02 p.m.
Day two runs on the same clock with a shorter middle: an early drive, one session before lunch, and the afternoon held loose for the 4.1 wet days an average October carries. If the rain is the one-inch kind, which turns up in about seven Octobers out of ten, put the afternoon in the car instead: our Florida road-trip guide has the routes, and things to do in Florida fills the indoor hours.
Madison Blue Spring in October vs September and November
| Measure | September | October | November |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 87.8°F | 80.5°F | 71.4°F |
| Average low | 66.5°F | 56.8°F | 46.6°F |
| Precipitation | 4.22 in | 3.71 in | 2.47 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 5.2 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| Spring water | 73.2°F read Sep 11, 2026 | Same gauge, no seasonal swing | Same gauge, no seasonal swing |
September runs 87.8°F by day and 66.5°F at night, October 80.5°F and 56.8°F, November 71.4°F and 46.6°F. Rain falls in the same order: 4.22 inches, then 3.71, then 2.47, spread over 5.2, 4.1 and 3.6 days of at least 0.10 inch. The water is the constant at roughly 73.2°F through all three, so the calendar changes only the air you step into afterward.
Move four weeks earlier and you gain 7.3°F of afternoon warmth and half an inch more rain, with the water unchanged, as our September page sets out. Move four weeks later and you lose 9.1°F off the afternoon and 10.2°F off the night, while gaining the driest of the three months at 2.47 inches. Divers who spend little time standing around will take November’s cooler, drier air. Anyone who plans to dry off and sit will want October’s 80.5°F.
Is October a good time to visit Madison Blue Spring?
Yes, if your day is built around getting in the water and back out of it repeatedly: 80.5°F afternoons dry you between sessions, and 3.71 inches across 4.1 wet days leaves most days workable. No, if you came to lie in the sun, since September’s 87.8°F is the better match. And no, if the trip depends on a marked swim area or a paddle launch, because the 2024 state inventory lists neither here.
When the answer is no, September is the month to prefer for straight warmth, at the price of 4.22 inches of rain and 5.2 wet days. November is the one for dry, cool air, at 2.47 inches and an average low of 46.6°F, with the caveat that its 71.4°F average afternoon sits 1.8°F below the spring itself, so the towel does less work.
What none of the neighbors offers is October’s particular pairing: an afternoon averaging 7.3°F warmer than the water, with rain already down from September’s 4.22 inches and nights not yet down to November’s 46.6°F.
The last word
Budget the bed and the drive first, since we could not confirm what the gate charges or when it opens, and settle that part on arrival. The gauge that gives the 73.2°F also measured 72 cubic feet per second leaving the vent, water replaced faster than it can cloud, and that flow stays put while the air above it swings 23.7°F between 7:34 a.m. and mid-afternoon. Put a dry fleece in the car for the 56.8°F start, and aim to be out of the water by 5:30 p.m.
Sources & data for this guide
- October air normals (80.5°F high, 56.8°F low, 3.71 in, 4.1 days at 0.10 in, 0.7 day at 1.00 in) · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00093845, Valdosta Regional AP, GA, about 27 miles from the spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- September and November normals (87.8/66.5°F and 4.22 in; 71.4/46.6°F and 2.47 in) · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, same station · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight 11h 28m, sunrise 7:34 a.m. and sunset 7:02 p.m. on Oct 15, converted from UTC to Eastern Daylight Time · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Water temperature 73.2°F (22.9°C) and discharge 72 cubic feet per second · U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System, station 02319302, instantaneous reading · read Sep 11, 2026
- No designated swimming area and no canoe, kayak or tube launch listed · 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
- Editorial admission: floridastateparks.org returned 403 to automated reads and the FWC manatee pages render client-side, so we verified no entrance fee, no opening hour and no manatee count. We also found no occupancy series and no lodging-tax rate, so no month is ranked on price · Sep 11, 2026
To plan your stay
- Madison Blue Spring: When to Go, Month by Month Highs, Rain and Daylight
- Madison Blue Spring in September: Weather, Water Temperature and How It Compares to August
- Madison Blue Spring in November: Weather, Water Temperature and How It Compares With October and December
- Madison Blue Spring in August: 91°F Air, 73°F Water and 8 Rain Days