Florida in December: Weather by City, Sea Temperatures and Crowds

FLORIDA · DECEMBER · DRY SEASON

Key West spends December with an average low of 68.3°F, which is bath-warm by any northern standard. The NOAA gauge at Jacksonville International, the station that stands in for St. Augustine, averages a low of 45.8°F and logs 3.6 nights at or below freezing. Both readings describe the same state in the same month.

December belongs to the dry season, November through April, and it falls outside the Atlantic hurricane season, closed since November 30. Every temperature and rain figure here is a NOAA 1991–2020 monthly normal measured at a named airport station, not a model reanalysis. The rest of the calendar is in our best-time verdict.

On this page

• December highs in Miami and St. Augustine78.2°F and 67.5°F, station by station
• Is December dry season in Florida?Yes: November through April
• Sea temperature by coast in December79.3°F Atlantic, 66.7°F Gulf
• How busy Florida gets over the holidaysThe last two weeks, and what they cost to book
• Things to do in Florida in DecemberEverglades at $35, Vizcaya at $20, PAMM free Thursdays
• Best region for a December weekSoutheast coast, the Keys, the Gulf and the northeast
• December vs November and JanuaryRain, sea and demand across the three months
• Is December a good time to visit Florida?Yes for southeast swimmers, no for Gulf swimmers

Florida runs 450 miles from top to bottom, and the stations in the normals below stretch from Key West International to Jacksonville International. Averaging them into one December temperature erases the only fact that changes a booking.

Florida weather in December: highs, lows and rain by city

Miami International averages a 78.2°F high in December. Jacksonville International averages 67.5. Those eleven degrees are the structural fact of a Florida December, and the nights widen the gap further: 64.3°F in Miami against 45.8°F up north, with 3.6 freezing nights at the Jacksonville gauge. Tampa records 0.1 of those nights and Orlando 0.3.

Sorted by high, the six stations fall into three bands. Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Key West hold the upper 70s. The I-4 middle gives back four degrees, with Tampa at 73.9 and Orlando at 73.8. Then the northeast drops another six. A December trip that pairs Orlando with St. Augustine crosses two of those bands in a two-hour drive.

Rain arrives as a passing band, not the wet season’s daily afternoon storm. Fort Lauderdale counts 4.2 days with at least a tenth of an inch, St. Augustine 4.4, Key West only 3.1. Days delivering an inch or more run between 0.4 in Fort Lauderdale and 0.8 in St. Augustine, so the normal December brings roughly one genuine soaking and a handful of half-hour interruptions.

The day-to-night swing decides the suitcase. Key West moves 9.4 degrees between its average high and low, so one layer covers a whole day. Orlando moves 20.9 degrees and St. Augustine 21.7, which puts theme-park evenings and northeast dinners in fleece territory. Pack for two climates if the itinerary crosses Orlando in either direction.

Light is the month’s real constraint. On December 15 the Miami sun rises at 6:58 a.m. and sets at 5:33 p.m., a shade over 10 hours 35 minutes. Key West gets 10 h 40, Tampa 10 h 25, Orlando 10 h 23, St. Augustine 10 h 17. Every sunset in the state lands before 5:45 p.m., so a two-hour drive after a beach afternoon happens in the dark.

Is December in Florida’s dry season or wet season?

Dry season. Statewide it runs November through April, and the wet season covers May through October. In South Florida the warm, dry stretch of that season is reckoned from December to April, so December is the first month where the southern half of the state delivers the full package rather than a transition.

On the ground the change is an afternoon that stays yours. The Miami International gauge records 2.44 inches across the whole of December against 10.51 inches in June. Humidity drops out of the 85 to 90 percent summer band, the daily thunderstorm timetable disappears, and mosquitoes retreat far enough that Everglades boardwalks become pleasant rather than tactical.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, peaks on September 10, and concentrates most of its activity between mid-August and mid-October. December sits outside those dates. That is a calendar statement and nothing more: it does not promise perfect weather, and it does not mean a December front cannot drop a gray, 60-degree day on Tampa.

For booking, that shifts the risk from tropical weather to demand. The refundable-rate discipline that matters in September matters less here. What matters instead is holiday-week inventory, especially in the Keys, where the room supply is finite and the Overseas Highway offers no overflow. Our know-before-you-go notes cover the rest of the fine print.

Can you swim in Florida in December? Sea temperature by coast

On the Atlantic side, yes, without hesitation: 79.3°F off Fort Lauderdale, 79.1°F off Miami, 77.6°F off Key West. On the Gulf and up the northeast coast the answer changes hard: 66.7°F off Tampa and 66.0°F off St. Augustine. The 13-degree spread between Fort Lauderdale and St. Augustine is the same north-south logic the air temperatures follow, only sharper.

One measurement caveat before you pack the snorkel. Those figures are means of daily maxima over 2015–2024, so they describe the warmest part of the day rather than a 24-hour average, and they sit a shade above it. A separate winter reference puts the water off Miami nearer 72°F through December, January and February, with sources disagreeing on January between roughly 72 and 76°F. Read the numbers here as afternoon peaks.

How busy is Florida in December?

December opens the state’s busy half. The dry season is when Florida earns its reputation, and the two annual crowd peaks are holiday weeks and spring break. That splits the month cleanly: the first ten days behave like a shoulder period, and the stretch from roughly the 20th onward behaves like the year’s high point in the beach towns and the theme parks alike.

Book the holiday half early and the quiet half late. Art Basel Miami Beach also lands at the Miami Beach Convention Center in early December and pulls South Beach rates with it, and the published dates for the coming edition disagree between sources, so confirm them before you build a weekend around the fair. Our where-to-stay guide sorts the bases by region.

One figure is missing here on purpose: a month-by-month rate series for the state. Market reporting puts nightly rates lowest from August to October and highest from February to April, and that is a trend rather than an official statistic, so no month gets crowned the cheapest on this site. Resort fees behave the same way, with published figures running from about $25 a night on average up to $35 or $95 at individual hotels. Our trip-cost page handles the arithmetic.

Things to do in Florida in December

What December adds is datable. The hurricane season closed on November 30, so the fall booking caveat is gone. The dry season pulls Everglades wildlife toward the shrinking water, which is why the boardwalks pay off now and disappoint in August. Manatees move into the warm inland springs for the winter, and our manatee guide covers where and how. None of that is available in July at any price.

With prices and hours: Everglades National Park charges $35 per private vehicle for seven days, and its three entrances plus the Flamingo Visitor Center each sit at least an hour’s drive apart, so pick one per day. Vizcaya, in north Coconut Grove, opens Wednesday to Monday from 9:30 a.m. with last admission at 4:30 p.m., closed Tuesdays, $20 for adults during restoration and $5 for ages 6 to 12. The Pérez Art Museum Miami is free Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. and all day on the second Saturday. The Miami Beach trolley is free, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., every twenty minutes or so. Lummus Park, the beach fronting Ocean Drive between 5th and 15th, is free and open around the clock.

Where to go in Florida in December

The southeast coast takes the month. Miami at 78.2°F by day and 64.3°F at night needs no jacket, 3.7 rain days out of 31 barely register, and the water at 79.1°F removes the usual winter negotiation over swimming. Fort Lauderdale reads a hair warmer at sea, 79.3°F, and a hair wetter on land, 2.78 inches across 4.2 rain days. Our Miami guide has the neighborhoods.

The northeast loses this month, and only for swimmers. St. Augustine’s 67.5°F high, 45.8°F low, 3.6 freezing nights and 66.0°F sea rule out beach days for most visitors. For walking a Spanish old town in cool, clear air with thin crowds before the holidays, those same numbers are close to ideal, and the St. Augustine guide is built for exactly that trip.

The Keys follow neither the north nor the middle. Key West averages 77.7°F by day and 68.3°F at night, the smallest day-to-night swing of the six stations, on 2.16 inches of rain across 3.1 wet days. The sea holds 77.6°F and daylight runs 10 h 40. The trade-off is inventory: 113 miles of two-lane highway and a fixed number of beds. See Key West and, if you want the boat day, Dry Tortugas.

One line, if that is all you take: swim south of Fort Lauderdale or in the Keys, bring a real coat north of Orlando, and treat the Gulf beaches as walking beaches at 66.7°F. Our seven-day itinerary already respects that split.

Florida in December vs November and January

On rain, January is the drier of the two months we can measure: 1.83 inches at Miami International against December’s 2.44. On air temperature we hold no November or January normal for these six stations, so no comparison gets invented here. On water, December off Miami averages 79.1°F as a daily-max mean, while the winter reference sits nearer 72°F across December, January and February, and January itself is given anywhere between 72 and 76 depending on the source.

Shift four weeks earlier and you re-enter the hurricane season, which still has until November 30 to run. Shift four weeks later and the weather stays dry while the demand curve climbs toward the February-to-April rate peak. December’s own two halves matter more than either neighbor: the first ten days are the quiet ones, and the holiday stretch is not.

By profile: swimmers on the Atlantic side are well served by December or January, storm-averse travelers should prefer December to November, and anyone allergic to crowds should aim at the first ten days of December and leave the holiday weeks to the families who have no choice. Traveling with kids? Our family guide takes the school calendar as a given.

Is December a good time to visit Florida?

Yes, for anyone whose list reads Atlantic swimming, wildlife boardwalks and city days without humidity. Miami at 78.2°F with 3.7 rain days and 79.1°F water, plus a hurricane season that ended on November 30, is close to the best case the state offers. No, for two groups: Gulf and northeast swimmers looking at 66.7°F and 66.0°F, and anyone who needs the final two weeks to be quiet.

If that second description fits, move the trip rather than the expectations. April sits inside the same dry season, November through April, and skips the spring-break surge that hits the beach towns in March. Read the twelve-month verdict before you commit, since the northeast and the Gulf reward a later slot than the southeast does.

The last word

Pick the latitude before the dates. A December week between Miami and Key West is a swimming holiday; the same week in St. Augustine is a walking one in a coat, and both are legitimate uses of the month. If the dates are flexible, take the first ten days and keep an Everglades morning to yourself at $35 a vehicle. If they are not, book the holiday room now and plan around the light: the Key West sun sets at 5:42 p.m. on December 15, nine minutes after Miami’s and the latest in the state.

Sources & data for this guide

• Miami December normals, 78.2°F / 64.3°F, 2.44 in, 3.7 days at 0.10 in+ · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991–2020, station USW00012839 (Miami International Airport) · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Key West normals, 77.7°F / 68.3°F, 2.16 in · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, station USW00012836 (Key West International Airport) · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Fort Lauderdale normals, 77.7°F / 64.7°F, 2.78 in, 4.2 rain days · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, station USW00012849 (Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International) · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Orlando normals, 73.8°F / 52.9°F, 0.3 freezing nights · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, station USW00012815 (Orlando International Airport) · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Tampa normals, 73.9°F / 55.9°F, 0.1 freezing nights · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, station USW00012842 (Tampa International Airport) · checked Sep 10, 2026
• St. Augustine figures, 67.5°F / 45.8°F, 3.6 freezing nights · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, station USW00013889 (Jacksonville International Airport), the nearest official station · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Sea surface 79.3°F Fort Lauderdale, 79.1°F Miami, 77.6°F Key West, 66.7°F Tampa, 66.0°F St. Augustine · Open-Meteo Marine API, mean of daily maxima 2015–2024 · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Winter sea reference near 72°F off Miami, January given between 72 and 76°F · seatemperature.org / Current Results · sources diverge, both ranges reported · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Hurricane season June 1 – Nov 30, peak September 10 · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Daylight and sun times for December 15 (UTC converted to America/New_York) · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Everglades entrance fee $35 per vehicle for seven days, entrance spacing · National Park Service · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Vizcaya hours and $20 adult admission during restoration · vizcaya.org · checked Sep 10, 2026
• PAMM free Thursday evenings and second Saturdays · pamm.org · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Free Miami Beach trolley hours, Lummus Park access, Crandon Park parking · City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade Parks · checked Sep 10, 2026
• Editorial admission: we hold no month-by-month statewide rate series, so no month is called cheapest here. Hotel-rate seasonality (lowest Aug–Oct, highest Feb–Apr) and resort-fee ranges are market reporting, not official statistics. Art Basel’s coming dates disagree between sources; confirm with the fair.