FLORIDA · FANNING SPRINGS · DECEMBER
The water at Fanning Springs does not keep a calendar. A USGS gauge at the vent read 73.4°F (23.0°C) on September 11, 2026, and it reads close to that on any day you care to pick. December changes the air above it instead: 68.2°F at the warmest hour, 44.4°F before sunrise.
For most of a December day the spring is the warmest thing in the park, so the cold arrives on the walk back to the car rather than on the way in. Plan the swim for the early afternoon, pack a thick towel and dry clothes, and the month pays off with a swim area you are not queuing for. Arrive at 8 a.m. in shorts and the first hour goes by in the car with the heater running.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · FANNING SPRINGS · DECEMBER
December trades summer’s full parking lot for 68.2°F afternoons over 73.4°F water: one of the few stretches of the year when the spring runs warmer than the air above it.
HIGH 68.2°F · LOW 44.4°F · 4.6 RAIN DAYS · 10 HR 18 MIN OF DAYLIGHT
Go for: swimming without watching the lot, 715 feet of boardwalk in low winter light, and water that runs warmer than the December air.
Think twice before: tent camping: 6.2 nights in an average December fall to 32°F or below, and a 44.4°F dawn is a long walk from canvas to the water.
Air: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, Cross City AP · Water: USGS gauge 02323502 · Park counts: Florida DEP 2024 inventory
On this page
- Average highs, lows and rain days in December68.2°F days, 2.95 inches, 4.6 wet days
- What to wear on a December morning44.4°F at dawn, T-shirt by two
- How crowded and how expensive the park gets130 parking spaces, and what we could not price
- Things to do in Fanning Springs in December715 feet of boardwalk, one swim area, one launch
- A two-day plan for a December weekendSunrise 7:18, swim at one, dry by three
- December vs November and JanuaryHow the three months compare, degree by degree
- Is December a good time to visit?Yes for swimmers and paddlers, no for lounging
Every figure below is dated to December. For the cabins, the drive and what the park is like the rest of the year, start with our Fanning Springs guide; the neighboring months sit one click away, in November and January, and the statewide view lives in when to visit Florida.
Fanning Springs weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days
| December normal | Value |
|---|---|
| Average high | 68.2°F |
| Average low | 44.4°F |
| Precipitation | 2.95 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 4.6 |
| Days with 1 in or more | 0.8 |
| Nights at 32°F or below | 6.2 |
| Daylight on Dec 15 | 10 hr 18 min |
Every air figure here comes from NOAA NCEI’s 1991-2020 monthly normals for station USW00012833, the airport at Cross City, about 27 miles (44 km) from the spring. That is a real thermometer with a thirty-year record rather than a reanalysis grid cell, and it is still 27 miles away. Read 68.2°F and 44.4°F as the shape of the month, not as the number on the ladder at the swim area.
Rain falls on 4.6 days in an average December, counting only days that reach at least 0.10 inch, so figure roughly one day in seven with something worth an umbrella. Heavier weather stays rare: 0.8 day in the month brings an inch or more, which works out to one real soaking in about four Decembers out of five. The monthly total is 2.95 inches. Most of it arrives as a gray hour rather than a lost day.
Between that 44.4°F low and the 68.2°F high sits a swing of 23.8 degrees, and it repeats every day of the month. Pack in layers you can shed by noon: a real jacket for the first two hours of daylight, a fleece for the boardwalk, swimwear underneath if the water is on the agenda. Wet hair at 45°F is the least pleasant part of a December visit, so add a hat for the drive home.
On December 15 the sun rises at 7:18 a.m. and sets at 5:36 p.m. local time, for 10 hours 18 minutes of daylight. The practical reading of that: the last comfortable swim starts around 2 p.m., the low sun after four gives the boardwalk its best light, and anyone driving home in wet clothes is doing it in the dark.
How warm is Fanning Springs in December?
December’s normal high is 68.2°F and its normal low 44.4°F, a spread of 23.8 degrees across an average day. Set those against the 73.4°F gauge reading at the vent and the ranking is clear: the water sits above December’s warmest hour by 5.2 degrees. Swimming is the warm part of the outing, and the walk back to the car is the cold one.
Mornings call for long pants, a jacket and closed shoes. By two in the afternoon the jacket is in the backpack and the boardwalk is a T-shirt walk. The item people forget is a second towel: 68.2°F air dries a swimmer slowly, and the first towel is soaked before you reach the observation platform.
In an average December, 6.2 nights fall to 32°F or below at Cross City, roughly one night in five. That is a camping decision more than a swimming one. The park holds five cabins, and a freezing night is the argument for one of them. The spring itself takes no notice, so keep a scraper in the car if the day starts from a tent.
How busy is Fanning Springs in December? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
We found no occupancy series and no monthly room rates for Fanning Springs, so we rank no month by price. The calendar still splits December in two: the first half carries no holiday at all, the last two weeks carry the winter school break and the traffic that comes with it. The state counts 130 parking spaces at Fanning Springs State Park, and when the lot fills, the gate closes.
Reserve where you sleep first and build the days around it. Five cabins is the entire inventory at the park, so a holiday-week booking is decided by that number rather than by any forecast. We could not verify the reservation window or how far ahead those five release, so we quote no number of weeks. For the wider area, our Florida lodging guide sets out the options.
We could not verify a local lodging-tax rate, so we give no percentage. The gate fee sits in the same position: floridastateparks.org returned 403 to our automated reads on September 11, 2026, and Florida park fees vary by park and by season, so a price copied from another spring would not transfer. Bring a card and expect a per-vehicle charge at the entrance.
Spend money on one thing this month and make it the cabin. With 6.2 freezing nights in an average December and a 44.4°F normal low on the others, the gap between canvas and a heated room is the gap between a 7:18 a.m. start and a mid-morning one. The rest scales down fine: one swim area, one launch, and neither improves for cash.
Things to do in Fanning Springs in December
In July, 130 spaces is a hard ceiling on a Saturday. In December that ceiling stops deciding the day, and arriving at eleven still gets you parked. The other feature the cool months own is the reversal: 73.4°F water under air that peaks at 68.2°F, so the swim area behaves like a heated pool that happens to sit outdoors.
Fanning Springs State Park is compact and the state has counted it: 715 feet of boardwalk, 1 observation platform, 1 designated swimming area, 1 canoe, kayak and tube launch, 5 cabins, and those 130 parking spaces. Florida law also puts the spring in a protected class, the Outstanding Florida Springs of Statute 373.802(5). The class covers every historic first-magnitude spring, plus six named by hand in the law.
The vent holds its temperature all year and the air is what moves, which is the whole seasonal story here. In July the boardwalk is the hot part and the water is relief; in December the order flips and a fleece at noon on the platform is the pleasant half of the visit. One caution on that 73.4°F: it is a single instantaneous gauge reading from September 11, 2026, not a monthly average of daily maxima like the sea temperatures quoted for a beach town.
What a December day costs is the part we could not read. No fee schedule was available to us, so we will not label anything here free or paid. The hours, at least, are on your side: daylight runs 10 hours 18 minutes on December 15, and the low sun after four lights the boardwalk and the observation platform at the exact hour a July visit would still be hunting for shade.
Fanning Springs in December: a two-day itinerary
Day one starts late by Florida standards, because the sun does. Sunrise on December 15 is 7:18 a.m. and the hour after it sits near the 44.4°F low, so give it to the drive and the coffee. Reach the park around 9:30 for the boardwalk and the platform in cold, clean light. Swim at 1 p.m., closest to the 68.2°F high, when 73.4°F water feels generous. Be dry by three and back at the car well before the 5:36 p.m. sunset.
Give day two to the launch: one ramp for canoes, kayaks and tubes, best used mid-morning once the frost is off the seats. Paddling keeps you warm in a way that floating does not, so the cold start costs less here than on the swim day. If the sky turns, the odds are with you, since only 0.8 day in an average December brings an inch or more. On a wet morning, swap the paddle for the swim, because 73.4°F water in the rain is still 73.4°F, then let our manatee guide take the afternoon.
Fanning Springs in December vs November and January
| Measure | November | December | January |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 74.4°F | 68.2°F | 65.9°F |
| Average low | 49.2°F | 44.4°F | 41.8°F |
| Precipitation | 2.10 in | 2.95 in | 3.38 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.4 | 4.6 | 5.7 |
| Spring water at the vent | No seasonal change | 73.4°F (gauge, Sept 11, 2026) | No seasonal change |
November runs 6.2 degrees warmer by day (74.4°F against 68.2°F) and 4.8 warmer at night (49.2°F against 44.4°F), with 2.10 inches of rain across 3.4 wet days. January takes the other side: 65.9°F and 41.8°F, 3.38 inches, 5.7 days at a tenth of an inch or more. December lands between the two on every line, and the water stays at 73.4°F through all three, because a spring has no season.
Shift the trip back four weeks and you gain those 6.2 degrees of afternoon and a drier month, and you lose the reversal: at 74.4°F, a November afternoon is warmer than the spring. Shift forward four weeks and January adds 1.1 wet days and 0.43 inch of rain, with mornings 2.6 degrees colder, for the same 73.4°F swim under a thinner reason to linger on the boardwalk.
Is December a good time to visit Fanning Springs?
Yes for swimmers who would rather have the one designated swim area to themselves than have warm air, yes for paddlers, and yes for anyone sleeping in a heated room. No for a family picturing towel-on-the-grass hours between swims: a 68.2°F high makes the grass time chilly, and at 44.4°F before nine, mornings belong to jackets.
If the answer is no, move to November rather than January. Highs of 74.4°F and 2.10 inches over 3.4 wet days make it the warmer, drier neighbor, with the spring unchanged at 73.4°F. January goes the other way on every measure we read: 65.9°F by day, 41.8°F at night, 3.38 inches of rain and 5.7 days carrying at least a tenth of an inch.
Take the swim at 1 p.m. in December and the water sits 5.2 degrees above the air’s normal best, with 10 hours 18 minutes of daylight on the 15th to arrange a boardwalk morning and an afternoon float around it. November cannot offer that gap at 74.4°F, and January’s 65.9°F widens it while chilling everything either side of the water.
The last word
Settle the sleeping arrangement and December here sorts itself: five cabins, 6.2 freezing nights and a 7:18 a.m. sunrise decide whether the trip starts warm or cold. One number we have not spent yet: the same USGS gauge that reads 73.4°F also measures 41 cubic feet per second leaving the vent. That volume is why the water is clear, in December as in July, replaced faster than it can cloud. Bring the second towel.
Sources & data for this guide
- December normals: high 68.2°F, low 44.4°F, 2.95 in, 4.6 days at 0.10 in or more, 0.8 day at 1 in or more, 6.2 nights at 32°F or below · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012833, Cross City AP, FL · checked Sep 24, 2026
- November (74.4°F / 49.2°F, 2.10 in, 3.4 days) and January (65.9°F / 41.8°F, 3.38 in, 5.7 days) · same NOAA NCEI station and period · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Sunrise 7:18 a.m., sunset 5:36 p.m. and 10 hr 18 min of daylight on December 15 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Water temperature 73.4°F (23.0°C) and discharge 41 cubic feet per second · USGS National Water Information System, station 02323502 Fanning Springs, instantaneous reading · checked Sep 24, 2026
- 130 parking spaces, 715 feet of boardwalk, 5 cabins, 1 swimming area, 1 canoe/kayak/tube launch, 1 observation platform · Florida DEP 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: no entrance fee, no opening hour and no manatee count. floridastateparks.org returned 403 to our automated reads and the FWC manatee page renders client-side, both on September 11, 2026 · check the park before you drive.