ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS · FLORIDA · NOVEMBER
November at Ichetucknee Springs means 74.4°F afternoons instead of October’s 82.2°F, mornings that start near 49.2°F, and a spring run whose water has no season at all. That last part is why people still drive up in late fall. The float, the paddle and the swim areas are fed by water arriving from underground at whatever temperature it has always had, so what changes between August and November is the air around it, and in November it changes a lot between breakfast and lunch.
Peak summer here can bring as many as 3,000 visitors a day by the state’s own count, and the 909 parking spaces decide when the gate closes. November asks none of that. What it asks instead is a fleece for the first two hours of the day, a swimsuit for the middle of it, and a plan that finishes before the sun sets at 5:36 pm.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS · NOVEMBER
November swaps October’s 82.2°F afternoons for 74.4°F ones and takes the summer crowd pressure off the 909-space lot, which suits walkers and paddlers more than families planning a long float.
AVG HIGH 74.4°F · AVG LOW 49.2°F · 3.4 WET DAYS · SUNSET 5:36 PM
Go for: 4.2 miles of hiking trail at a walkable temperature, 2.8 miles of paddling trail, 1,472 feet of boardwalk, and none of the summer pressure on the gate.
Think twice before: planning a long tube float with small children: mornings average 49.2°F and two nights a month reach freezing.
Air normals: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, Cross City AP · Facilities: Florida DEP inventory 2024 · full sources at the end
On this page
- November highs, lows and rain days74.4°F, 49.2°F and 3.4 wet days
- What to wear morning and afternoonA 25.2-degree swing in one day
- Crowds, parking and the summer peak909 spaces and no 3,000-a-day pressure
- Tubing, paddling and hiking in November4 launches, 4.2 miles of trail
- A two-day plan around a 5:36 pm sunsetDay one and day two, hour by hour
- October vs November vs DecemberHow the three months compare
- Is November worth the drive?Who should go, who should wait
The normals below come from one weather station, and the park figures from two state documents, each named where it is used. For everything that does not move with the date, our Ichetucknee Springs guide is the place to start, and the statewide calendar puts November at the opening of Florida’s dry season.
Ichetucknee Springs weather in November: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | November normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 74.4°F |
| Average low | 49.2°F |
| Precipitation | 2.10 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.4 |
| Days with 1.00 in or more | 0.4 |
| Nights at 32°F or below | 2.0 |
| Daylight on November 15 | 10h 41m |
NOAA NCEI’s 1991-2020 monthly normals give November an average high of 74.4°F, an average low of 49.2°F and 2.10 inches of rain. Every figure here comes from a real thermometer rather than a model grid cell, and it helps to know where that thermometer stands: the station is Cross City AP, about 44 km from the spring, roughly 27 miles. It measures air and nothing else. The spring has no season of its own, so none of these normals tells you what the water feels like once you are in it.
3.4 days in an average November record at least 0.10 inch of rain, roughly one day in nine. Only 0.4 day reaches a full inch, a genuine soaking in about two Novembers out of five. The 2.10-inch total is spread thin across the month. In practice a wet day here costs you an hour under cover rather than a whole afternoon.
The gap between 74.4°F and 49.2°F is 25.2 degrees, and you feel most of it before 9 am. Pack for two days inside one: a fleece and a hat for the first hours, shorts and a towel for the middle of the day. A second dry towel matters more now than it did four weeks ago, because the same swim ends in air that averages 7.8°F cooler than October’s.
On November 15 the sun rises at 6:55 am and sets at 5:36 pm local time, giving 10 hours 41 minutes of daylight, per sunrise-sunset.org. The comfortable core of the day sits between roughly 11 am and 3 pm. A float launched at 4 pm finishes in falling light and falling temperature, so the last comfortable start is well before 3 pm.
How warm is Ichetucknee Springs in November?
74.4°F by day, 49.2°F at night: a spread of 25.2 degrees, wider than October’s 22.3 and wider than December’s 23.8. Of the three months on either side of it, November is the one that swings furthest between dawn and mid-afternoon.
At 7 am that means long sleeves, closed shoes and no hurry to get wet. By 11 am the same day has climbed into the low 70s and a swim makes sense. Order the day accordingly: walk the 4.2 miles of hiking trail while the air is cold, then get in the water when it is not. Doing it the other way round leaves you shivering in a wet swimsuit at the coldest hour.
Two nights in an average November fall to 32°F or below at that Cross City station, and those are the mornings when a 7 am arrival buys you nothing but cold hands. We found no measured water temperature for the vent, so we give no figure for how the spring itself feels. What holds all year is that its temperature does not track the calendar, and that is the whole reason a November swim is still on the table.
How busy is Ichetucknee Springs in November? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
Florida’s environmental department describes peak summer here as up to 3,000 visitors a day, and November sits well outside that window. The number that governs a busy day is the lot: the state counts 909 parking spaces, and when they fill, the gate closes. November does not bring the volume that fills them.
That changes what planning ahead means. We found no occupancy or room-rate series for the area, so we crown no month cheap and no month expensive. The structural point stands anyway: a capacity-limited park rewards an early arrival more than an early reservation, and in November the earliest useful arrival is around 8 am, just over an hour after sunrise, which is early enough for the trail and still two hours short of swimming weather.
We could not verify a lodging-tax rate for the counties around the spring, so we give no percentage. Whatever nightly rate you are quoted will carry state and county tax on top of it, and the county share is the part we cannot hand you. Our Florida trip-cost guide covers the statewide picture.
The one spend that genuinely changes this month is a bed close enough to the park. With 10 hours 41 minutes of daylight and a usable core from 11 am to 3 pm, a two-hour approach drive eats the warm half of the day. Sleeping nearby the night before converts that drive into swim time, and our where-to-stay guide and getting-around guide cover the options and the roads.
Things to do in Ichetucknee Springs in November
November opens the hiking in a way summer never does. At 74.4°F the 4.2 miles of trail are a pleasure rather than an endurance event, and the shaded boardwalk stops being the only tolerable place to stand. It is also the month when a paddle beats a float for most visitors, because paddling keeps you moving and dry while the air is still working its way up to that afternoon figure.
Inside the park, Florida DEP’s 2024 facilities inventory counts 4 canoe, kayak and tube launches, 2.8 miles of paddling trail, 4.2 miles of hiking trail, 1,472 feet of boardwalk and 2 designated swimming areas. The department’s own visitor page describes three separate canoe and tube launches and more than seven miles of swiftly flowing river, so the launch count differs between two state documents. Plan on at least three, and confirm which are open in November before you go.
A USGS gauge measured 23 cubic feet per second leaving the vent on September 11, 2026, a single instantaneous reading rather than a monthly average. That volume is why the run stays clear: the water is replaced faster than it can cloud. What moves in November is the air above it, 25.2 degrees between dawn and mid-afternoon, while the spring keeps doing exactly what it was doing in August.
Nothing in November requires a rental. The 1,472 feet of boardwalk and the 4.2 miles of trail ask for shoes, and the 2 designated swimming areas ask for a towel. The one number we cannot give you is the gate price: floridastateparks.org returns 403 to automated reads, so we could not read the entrance fee or the opening hours, and neither should be taken from a figure quoted for a different park.
Ichetucknee Springs in November: a two-day itinerary
Day one, leave your bed by 7:30 am and walk the 4.2 miles of trail while the air is near 49.2°F, which is a temperature that makes walking easy and standing around unpleasant. Be at a launch by 11 am, when the day is climbing toward 74.4°F, and spend the warm core of it on the water. Dry off by 3 pm, take the boardwalk in the last good light, and be back at the car before the 5:36 pm sunset.
Day two, reverse the order: a midday swim at one of the 2 designated areas, then the paddling trail, then the drive home. If you land on one of the month’s 3.4 wet days, the boardwalk and the trail still work under a rain shell, and paddling is the activity a shower damages least. A full inch of rain falls on only 0.4 day in an average November, so a washout is the exception rather than the plan.
Ichetucknee Springs in November vs October and December
| Measure | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 82.2°F | 74.4°F | 68.2°F |
| Average low | 59.9°F | 49.2°F | 44.4°F |
| Day-night spread | 22.3°F | 25.2°F | 23.8°F |
| Precipitation | 2.23 in | 2.10 in | 2.95 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.7 | 3.4 | 4.6 |
October runs 82.2°F by day and 59.9°F at night, November 74.4 and 49.2, December 68.2 and 44.4, all from the same NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 series. Rain barely moves between October’s 2.23 inches and November’s 2.10, then climbs to 2.95 inches in December, with wet days going 3.7, 3.4 and 4.6.
Shift four weeks earlier and you gain 7.8°F on the afternoon and 10.7°F on the night, which is what turns a long float from a decision into a default. You also inherit more company. Our October guide sets out that trade. Shift four weeks later and December costs you another 6.2°F by day, adds 0.85 inch of rain and 1.2 more wet days, and leaves the trails at their emptiest.
Is November a good time to visit Ichetucknee Springs?
Yes for walkers, paddlers and anyone who wants the run without the summer weight of visitors: 74.4°F is close to ideal hiking weather, and the 909-space lot stops being a gate. No for a family whose whole plan is a multi-hour tube float with small children. Two freezing nights a month and 49.2°F mornings make that a gamble, and a cold child on a slow river is a short trip.
If the float is the point, October is the month to book. It holds 82.2°F days and 59.9°F nights on almost identical rainfall, 2.23 inches against 2.10, so you pay nothing in wet days for ten extra degrees at night. Anyone weighing the whole state rather than this one park should read our month-by-month verdict for Florida first.
November is the one month of the three that fits a comfortable 4.2-mile walk and a midday swim into the same daylight, all 10 hours 41 minutes of it.
The last word
The decision that matters here is the hour, not the week. Florida law protects what it calls Outstanding Florida Springs, meaning every historic first-magnitude spring the Florida Geological Survey recognizes plus six written by hand into the statute, and Ichetucknee belongs to that protected class whatever the date on your ticket. Pick a day after a dry stretch, arrive around 8 am for the trail, get in the water at 11, and carry two towels.
Sources & data for this guide
- November air normals (74.4°F high, 49.2°F low, 2.10 in, 3.4 days at 0.10 in, 0.4 day at 1 in, 2.0 nights at 32°F) · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012833, Cross City AP, FL, about 44 km from the spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- October and December normals used in the comparison · same NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 series and station · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight of 10h 41m, sunrise 6:55 am and sunset 5:36 pm on November 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted to local Eastern time · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Discharge of 23 cubic feet per second, a single instantaneous reading · U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System, station 02322685 · read Sep 11, 2026
- 909 parking spaces, 2 designated swimming areas, 4 launches, 2.8 mi paddling trail, 4.2 mi hiking trail, 1,472 ft boardwalk · Florida DEP Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 annual report · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Peak-summer figure of up to 3,000 visitors a day, seven-plus miles of river and the three-launch description · Florida DEP, Visit a Spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Outstanding Florida Springs definition · Florida Statutes 373.802(5) · checked Sep 24, 2026
- We could not read the entrance fee, the opening hours or any manatee count: floridastateparks.org returns 403 to automated reads and the FWC manatee page renders client-side · Sep 11, 2026
To plan your stay
- Best Time to Visit Ichetucknee Springs: Month-by-Month Highs, Rain Days and Crowds
- Ichetucknee Springs in October: Weather, Crowds and Tubing Conditions
- Ichetucknee Springs in December: Weather, Frost Nights and a Spring That Doesn't Change
- Ichetucknee Springs in January: Weather, Frost Nights and Crowds