WAKULLA SPRING · NOVEMBER · 30.2° N
November takes 9.2°F off the average afternoon at Wakulla Spring, dropping October’s 81.7°F high to 72.5°F. The spring underneath barely registers the change: the USGS gauge at the vent read 70.3°F (21.3°C) in September, and a first-magnitude spring holds close to that figure all year. So a November visit turns on a single gap, 48.0°F at dawn against about 70.3°F in the water.
That gap gives you a park you can walk at noon and 4.1 wet days in a month of thirty. It also takes away the long lazy swim: 2.3 nights fall to freezing, and the light is gone by 5:41 p.m. Where to sleep, how the drive works and what the other eleven months do belong to our Wakulla Spring guide.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · WAKULLA SPRING
November gives Wakulla Spring 72.5°F afternoons, 48.0°F dawns and 4.1 wet days, over water that stays near 70.3°F in every month of the year.
AIR 72.5°F / 48.0°F · 3.10 IN OF RAIN · SPRING WATER NEAR 70.3°F · 10H 40M OF DAYLIGHT
Go for: walking weather over cold water, a 72.5°F average afternoon, and a park whose only hard ceiling is a 300-space lot.
Think twice before: building the trip around a long swim: 2.3 November nights fall to 32°F or below, and last light is 5:41 p.m.
Air: NOAA NCEI station USW00093805, Tallahassee · Water: USGS gauge 02327000 · Facilities: Florida DEP 2024 inventory · full sources at the end
On this page
- Average highs, lows and rain days in November72.5°F days, 3.10 inches of rain
- What to wear morning and afternoonA 24.5°F swing and 2.3 freezing nights
- Crowds, parking and booking a bed300 spaces, and what we could not price
- Things to do at the spring in November285 feet of boardwalk and one swim area
- A two-day plan around the daylightHour by hour, 7:02 a.m. to 5:41 p.m.
- November against October and DecemberHow the three months compare
- Is November a good time to visit?Who should go, who should wait for spring
Every figure here carries a named source, and two of them do most of the work: the air normals are NOAA’s, read at a Tallahassee thermometer about 27 miles from the spring, and the water figure is a single USGS measurement taken at the spring itself. For the statewide seasons behind all of this, our Florida month-by-month verdict takes over.
Wakulla Spring weather in November: average highs, lows and rain days
| Wakulla Spring, November | Figure |
|---|---|
| Average high | 72.5°F (22.5°C) |
| Average low | 48.0°F (8.9°C) |
| Precipitation | 3.10 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 4.1 |
| Days with 1.00 in or more | 1.1 |
| Nights at 32°F or below | 2.3 |
| Daylight, Nov 15 | 10h 40m · 7:02 a.m. to 5:41 p.m. |
| Spring water (USGS gauge) | 70.3°F (21.3°C), one reading |
NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information publishes the 1991-2020 normals for station USW00093805, and that station stands at Tallahassee, about 27 miles (44 km) from the spring. For November it gives an average high of 72.5°F (22.5°C), an average low of 48.0°F (8.9°C) and 3.10 inches of precipitation. The figures come from a real thermometer rather than a reanalysis of a grid cell, and they describe the air. The water below the boardwalk has no season at all.
Rain reaches 0.10 inch or more on 4.1 days in an average November, leaving roughly 26 days of the thirty dry or close to it. Only 1.1 of those days records a full inch. In practice that means one real soaking per November and three lighter days where the rain is an hour to sit out under the cypress before the trail dries.
The distance between 72.5°F and 48.0°F is 24.5°F, wider than October’s 22.9°F or December’s 23.0°F. Pack for both ends of it in one small bag: a fleece and long pants for the first two hours, a T-shirt for the middle of the day, and a towel that dries fast, since you will be changing in air well cooler than the water you just left.
On November 15 the sun rises at 7:02 a.m. and sets at 5:41 p.m. local time, for 10 hours 40 minutes of daylight. Nothing outdoors survives past about five o’clock, and the warm core of the day runs from roughly 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plan the swim inside that window and treat the two dark ends as driving time or dinner.
How warm is Wakulla Spring in November?
Afternoons average 72.5°F (22.5°C) and nights 48.0°F (8.9°C). The 24.5°F between them is the widest daily spread of the three months on either side of November, and it means one calendar day can hand you a jacket morning and a shirt-sleeve afternoon without anything unusual happening.
You will effectively carry two outfits per day. Before ten, long sleeves and closed shoes for the platforms. By one o’clock, the same person is in shorts with a towel over one shoulder. After the swim the order reverses fast, so dry clothes in the car matter more in November than any other piece of gear.
An average November also puts 2.3 nights at or below 32°F at the Tallahassee station. Those are dawn events, over by mid-morning, and they leave the spring untouched: the gauge reads about 70.3°F whatever the air did overnight. On a freezing morning the water therefore sits some 38.3°F above the air. Most people still gasp on the first step in, at 70.3°F.
How busy is Wakulla Spring in November? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
November opens Florida’s dry season statewide, and the local rain column agrees: 3.10 inches here against December’s 4.24. Prices are a different matter. We found no occupancy series and no monthly room-rate series for Wakulla County, so we crown no month cheap and no month expensive. The number we can count is the park’s ceiling: 300 parking spaces. When the lot fills, the gate closes, and that mechanism holds in any month.
Booking lead time runs into the same blank. With no rate series in hand we give no number of weeks, and we would rather say so than invent one. The arrival hour is what you control instead: come early on a clear weekend, because those 300 spaces are the entire inventory. Most visitors sleep in Tallahassee, about 27 miles off, a drive of roughly 40 minutes (est.) on an ordinary morning.
We could not verify a Wakulla County tourist development tax rate, so we give no percentage. Build the nightly budget from our Florida trip cost guide and add whatever taxes and fees your confirmation actually shows.
One upgrade changes this month more than any other: sleeping close. With last light at 5:41 p.m., 27 miles of highway at each end of the day eats the two best hours of a short November. Paying more for a bed nearer the spring buys back a cold morning on the platforms and a swim at the warmest hour, on the same two-day trip.
Things to do in Wakulla Spring in November
November is when the walking half of this park becomes the reason to come. A 72.5°F afternoon turns 0.2 miles of hiking trail and 285 feet of boardwalk into easy going, and the two observation platforms become places you can stand still for twenty minutes without cooking or shivering. With 4.1 wet days in thirty, most weekends offer a clear choice of mornings.
Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection counted the whole of Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park in its 2024 Recreational Facilities Inventory: one designated swimming area, 285 feet of boardwalk, two observation platforms, 0.2 miles of hiking trail, 300 parking spaces. The state’s own Visit a Spring page names Wakulla Springs for deep cave diving by researchers and scientists, calling Florida’s springs a chance to probe depths where few will ever go. Everyone else gets that single swim area.
The month changes the contrast and nothing else. The gauge reads 70.3°F in September and will read close to that in March. At 2 p.m. in November the air above averages 72.5°F, so water and air stand 2.2°F apart and the swim feels close to neutral. At 7 a.m. the same water runs 22.3°F above the air. Only the air moves across the year.
On money, our reading came up short: we could not verify an entrance fee or a gate hour for the park. The state parks site returned 403 to our automated reads on September 11, 2026, and fees vary by park and by season, so a price copied from another spring would not transfer. Call the park before you drive. The boardwalk, the two platforms and the short trail ask nothing beyond whatever is charged at the entrance.
Wakulla Spring in November: a two-day itinerary
Day one, leave Tallahassee by eight and you reach the lot while the air is still climbing out of 48.0°F, with the 300 spaces as the only thing that can spoil the plan. Take the 285 feet of boardwalk and both observation platforms first, when wildlife viewing is best and a fleece is welcome. Hold the swim area for the 1 to 3 p.m. window, nearest the 72.5°F average high. Walk the 0.2-mile trail afterward, dry and moving, and be back at the platforms by 4:45.
Day two repeats the morning if the first swim went well. If the weather turns, point the car 27 miles north to Tallahassee and spend the cool hours indoors: rain reaches 0.10 inch on 4.1 days here, and only 1.1 day brings an inch or more, so most wet days clear. A freezing dawn, one of the 2.3 an average November holds, argues for a later start. The water stays near 70.3°F either way, and the walk back to the car is the part you feel.
Wakulla Spring in November vs October and December
| October | November | December | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 81.7°F | 72.5°F | 65.9°F |
| Average low | 58.8°F | 48.0°F | 42.9°F |
| Precipitation | 3.24 in | 3.10 in | 4.24 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.9 | 4.1 | 5.8 |
| Spring water (USGS gauge) | No seasonal swing | 70.3°F read Sept 11, 2026 | No seasonal swing |
Line the three months up and November falls between them on every air measure. Days run 9.2°F below October’s 81.7°F and 6.6°F above December’s 65.9°F. Nights sit 10.8°F under October’s 58.8°F and 5.1°F over December’s 42.9°F. Rain is where November comes out ahead: 3.10 inches against 3.24 and 4.24, and 4.1 wet days against December’s 5.8. The spring ignores all of it at about 70.3°F.
Shift four weeks earlier and you buy afternoons averaging 81.7°F, warm enough that a 70.3°F swim reads as relief, with 3.9 wet days. Shift four weeks later and December hands you 65.9°F days, 42.9°F nights, 4.24 inches of rain, 5.8 wet days and even less light. October suits a swimmer, November suits a walker who still wants to get in, and December wants a rain plan written before you book.
Is November a good time to visit Wakulla Spring?
Yes for anyone whose day is mostly on foot. A 72.5°F afternoon, 4.1 wet days and a swim area you can reach in a fleece add up to a cheap, easy weekend. No for a family hoping to keep small children in the water for two hours: 70.3°F is cold for that, and a 48.0°F morning gives them nothing to warm up on afterward.
If swimming is the whole reason for the drive, go in October. Its 81.7°F highs and 58.8°F lows change how the same 70.3°F water feels on the way out, and its 3.9 wet days come in just under November’s 4.1, even though the month totals slightly more rain at 3.24 inches. Our October guide runs those figures in full.
What November alone gives you is the widest air swing of the three, 24.5°F, so one trip can hold a frost-capable dawn on the platforms and a one o’clock swim in water that never moved.
The last word
Book the bed within the 27-mile radius, reach the lot before those 300 spaces go, and put the swim in the two hours either side of one o’clock. One more thing about the water you are stepping into: Florida law keeps a category called Outstanding Florida Springs for every historic first-magnitude spring the Florida Geological Survey recognizes, plus six written by hand into statute 373.802(5). Wakulla’s flow is the kind of thing that rule exists to protect, and November is the month you can stand over it in a fleece and still get in.
Sources & data for this guide
- November, October and December air normals, 1991-2020 · NOAA NCEI monthly normals, station USW00093805, Tallahassee, FL, about 27 miles from the spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Wet days (4.1 at 0.10 in, 1.1 at 1.00 in) and 2.3 freezing nights · same NOAA NCEI normals series · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Sunrise 7:02 a.m., sunset 5:41 p.m. and 10h 40m of daylight on Nov 15 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Spring water 70.3°F (21.3°C) · U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System, station 02327000 Wakulla Spring, a single instantaneous reading rather than a monthly average · checked Sep 24, 2026
- 300 parking spaces, one designated swimming area, 285 feet of boardwalk, two observation platforms, 0.2 miles of trail · 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
- Deep cave diving wording · Florida DEP, Visit a Spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- We could not verify an entrance fee, a gate hour, a manatee count or a county lodging-tax rate: floridastateparks.org returned 403 to our automated reads and the FWC manatee page renders client-side · checked Sep 24, 2026