KEY WEST · FLORIDA · DECEMBER
The December normals for Key West read 77.7°F by day and 68.3°F at night, and the Atlantic hurricane season closed on November 30. That pairing is what people fly south for in winter: a swimmable sea at 77.6°F, afternoons you can walk through without hunting for shade, and no storm watch on the calendar. Old Town makes it easy. It is flat, compact, and the largest wooden historic district in North America, so a week here runs on shoe leather and bicycles rather than on a rental car.
What the month takes back is daylight. On December 15 the sun is up for about 10 hours 40 minutes, rising at 7:02 a.m. and setting at 5:42 p.m., so the beach afternoon ends before dinner. Two costs are fixed and easy to plan around: Monroe County charges a 5.0% transient rental tax on top of the 6% state sales tax, and the Dry Tortugas ferry sells out weeks ahead of its 8 a.m. departure.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · KEY WEST
December gives Key West 77.7°F afternoons, a 77.6°F sea and a calendar clear of hurricane season, at the price of short beach afternoons and a 5:42 p.m. sunset.
NORMALS 1991–2020 · NOAA STATION AT THE AIRPORT · SEA 77.6°F · SUNSET 5:42 P.M. ON DEC 15
Go for: walking Old Town at midday, a Dry Tortugas ferry day with the storm season over, and swimming at Fort Zachary Taylor in nothing but a swimsuit.
Think twice before: planning long beach afternoons, since the light goes at 5:42 p.m. in mid-December, and before driving down with no parking plan at $3.00 an hour on the street.
Climate: NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, Key West International Airport · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine 2015–2024 · Parking: City of Key West · full sources at the end
On this page
- Key West weather in December77.7°F days, 68.3°F nights, 2.16 inches of rain
- Sea temperature and swimming77.6°F, read as daily maxima
- Crowds, parking and the lodging tax$3.00 an hour at the meter, 5.0% county tax
- Things to do, with hours and pricesFort Zachary Taylor, the Hemingway Home, Dry Tortugas
- A two-day itineraryFrom the 7:02 a.m. sunrise to the 5:42 p.m. sunset
- December vs November and JanuaryHighs, rain days and sea, month by month
- Is December a good time to visit?Yes for swimmers, no for long beach afternoons
Getting here shapes the first day. Key West has its own airport, EYW, and flying in removes the longest drive in Florida. By road from Miami it is roughly 155 miles and close to 3 hours 40 minutes without stops, six to eight with them. The Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike runs all-electronic as far as Florida City, with no cash booths, and from there US-1 is the only road, its mile markers counting down from about 126 to 0. There is no safe place to stop on the Seven Mile Bridge, so take the break at the Marathon end, where the old span’s restored two-mile walkway has a car park.
Key West weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | December, 1991–2020 normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 77.7°F |
| Average low | 68.3°F |
| Precipitation | 2.16 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.1 |
| Days with 1 in or more | 0.7 |
| Daylight on Dec 15 | 10 h 40 min |
These are station normals, not a gridded model: NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991–2020, station USW00012836, the gauge at Key West International Airport. December averages a high of 77.7°F, a low of 68.3°F and 2.16 inches of rain. Every figure here is a thirty-year average, so any single week can run warmer, cooler or wetter than the line above.
Rain in a Key West December is an interruption rather than a pattern. An average month logs 3.1 days with at least 0.10 inch, so roughly one day in ten brings rain you would notice, and 0.7 day with an inch or more, which works out to about seven genuine soakings across ten Decembers. Keep the ferry day and the beach day loose in the first half of the week and check the forecast the night before.
The day-to-night spread is 9.4 degrees, from 77.7°F in the afternoon to 68.3°F near dawn. Nobody needs a coat for that, but a long-sleeved layer earns its place twice: standing still at Mallory Square after the 5:42 p.m. sunset, and on an open boat deck at 8 a.m. Otherwise the packing list is a swimsuit, walking shoes and sunscreen, since 77°F sun at 24 degrees of latitude still burns.
Light is the real constraint. On December 15 the sun rises at 7:02 a.m. Eastern time and sets at 5:42 p.m., a shade under 10 hours 40 minutes. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square starts about two hours before sunset and carries on until dusk fades, every night of the year, weather permitting, so in mid-December the crowd begins forming around 3:45 p.m. Plan the swim for late morning and the museum for after four.
Can you swim in Key West in December? Sea temperature and the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor
The sea surface off Key West averages 77.6°F in December, from the Open-Meteo Marine reanalysis over 2015 to 2024. One qualifier matters: that number is the mean of daily maxima, the warmest reading of each day, so it sits a shade above a true 24-hour average. Early-morning water will read a little cooler than 77.6°F, and other tables that average the full day will publish a lower figure for the same month.
In practice that is swimming, not bracing. Most adults get in without hesitating and stay in, and the water is warmer than the 68.3°F air you meet at dawn. Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park holds the beach most often called the best on the island, within walking distance of Old Town: $2.50 on foot or by bicycle, $4.50 for a single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle, $6.00 per car for up to eight people plus a $0.50 county surcharge each. Gates open at 8 a.m. and close at sundown, 365 days a year.
On wind and swell we have nothing verified for December, so we publish no figure and no wave height. Two operating rules cover the practical case: the Sunset Celebration runs weather permitting, and the Dry Tortugas ferry keeps its own call on conditions, which is one more reason to hold that crossing for early in the trip rather than the last morning.
How busy is Key West in December? Crowds, parking rates and the Monroe County tax
December is the first full month of the year that falls outside the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks on September 10. Cruise traffic is a separate question with a legal answer. Key West voters approved three limits in November 2020: a cap of 1,500 disembarking passengers a day, a ban on ships carrying more than 1,300 people, and docking priority for lines with the best environmental and health records. Governor Ron DeSantis then signed SB 1194, barring local ballot measures from restricting maritime commerce in Florida ports, written to apply retroactively to those votes.
We found no occupancy or room-rate series for the island, so we crown no month cheap or expensive and give no percentage of beds sold. One lead time is firm: the Yankee Freedom III to Dry Tortugas sells out weeks ahead, and the operator’s own advice is to book at least a month before your date. Fix that morning first, then hang the flights into EYW and the nights on the island around it.
On the room bill, the tax is published. Monroe County levies a 5.0% transient rental tax, filed and paid with the 6% state sales tax, so 11% rides on the nightly rate before any resort fee or parking charge a property adds on its own. Our Florida trip cost guide handles the statewide budget picture.
Parking is the line where money genuinely changes the week. Street meters run $3.00 an hour. The Old Town Parking Garage is $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax, the Mallory Square lot $7 an hour or $48 a day with a ten-hour maximum, and the Key West Bight lot $5 an hour or $40 a day. Park the car once for the whole stay and walk, or ride the free Duval Loop bus, which calls at 18 stops through Old Town.
Things to do in Key West in December: Fort Zachary Taylor, the Hemingway Home and Dry Tortugas
With the storm season over, the long crossing becomes a date you can commit to. Dry Tortugas National Park has no road or bridge: it is ferry or seaplane, 70 miles west. The Yankee Freedom III leaves Key West daily at 8 a.m., check-in closes at 7:30 a.m., and the 2026 adult fare of about $250 covers the park entrance fee, snorkeling gear, breakfast and lunch.
On the island itself, the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum takes walk-ins from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, $19 for adults and $7 for children, free under 6, and its cats are said by the museum to descend from Snow White, the novelist’s polydactyl cat. Mile Marker 0 stands at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming, the southern end of a route that runs roughly 2,370 miles north to Fort Kent, Maine, with sources giving 2,369 or 2,390.
The sea barely shifts across the year here, the air does, and December is where the gap shows. At 77.6°F water against a 68.3°F dawn, the swim at Fort Zachary Taylor is often the warmest thing you do before nine. The same month shortens the park: gates close at sundown, 5:42 p.m. on December 15, about forty minutes after the fort itself locks at 5 p.m. Walking Duval at 77.7°F also beats the 81.0°F of four weeks earlier.
Free in December, as in any month: the Duval Loop bus at all 18 of its Old Town stops, though it does not serve the airport. Sources disagree sharply on its timetable, from every 20 minutes between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. to every 30 minutes early and every 15 minutes until midnight, so read the sign at the stop rather than a schedule found online. Watching the Sunset Celebration costs nothing either, weather permitting, from about 3:45 p.m. in mid-month.
Key West in December: a two-day itinerary
Day one follows the light. Sunrise lands at 7:02 a.m., so walk to Mile Marker 0 at Whitehead and Fleming while the streets are still empty, then be at the Hemingway Home for the 9 a.m. opening, $19 for adults. Late morning, go through the Fort Zachary Taylor gate on foot at $2.50 and swim in a 77.6°F sea. Tour the fort before it locks at 5 p.m. Reach Mallory Square around four, an hour and a half before the 5:42 p.m. sunset, and expect company on the pier.
Day two belongs to the boat. Check-in for the Yankee Freedom III closes at 7:30 a.m. for the 8 a.m. sailing, and the fare covers breakfast, lunch, gear and the park fee, so you carry a hat and a towel and nothing else. If the forecast turns, and about three December days bring 0.10 inch or more, hold the crossing for the clear morning and give the wet one to Old Town: the Hemingway Home runs until 5 p.m., and the Duval Loop gets you around without a soaking. Move the ferry date, not the flight.
Key West in December vs November and January
| Measure | November | December | January |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 81.0°F | 77.7°F | 75.8°F |
| Average low | 72.2°F | 68.3°F | 65.5°F |
| Precipitation | 2.05 in | 2.16 in | 1.83 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
| Sea surface (mean of daily maxima) | 81.2°F | 77.6°F | 76.5°F |
| Hurricane season | Ends Nov 30 | Outside | Outside |
Across the three months the afternoon slides about five degrees, from 81.0°F in November to 77.7°F in December and 75.8°F in January. Nights fall faster: 72.2, then 68.3, then 65.5. Rain hardly moves at 2.05, 2.16 and 1.83 inches, with wet days at 3.0, 3.1 and 3.3. The water does most of the changing, dropping from 81.2°F to 77.6°F and then to 76.5°F, all three read as means of daily maxima from the same series.
Shift back four weeks to November and you buy 3.3°F of afternoon warmth and 3.6°F of sea, against a month that still carries the last thirty days of hurricane season. Shift forward to January and you give up 1.9°F by day and 1.1°F in the water, gain the driest of the three at 1.83 inches, and get the widest gap between the sea and the dawn air, 11.0 degrees against December’s 9.3.
Is December a good time to visit Key West?
For most travelers, yes. If your trip is built on swimming, the Dry Tortugas crossing and walking a flat historic district all day, December delivers all three with the storm season shut and the thermometer at 77.7°F. It is a weaker month for anyone whose picture of Key West involves long afternoons on the sand, because the state park gate closes at sundown and that is 5:42 p.m., or for anyone chasing the warmest possible water.
If the water is the point, November is the stronger month at 81.2°F and 81.0°F afternoons, with the caveat that the hurricane season does not formally end until November 30. If you would rather have cooler nights and the driest of the three months, January runs 1.83 inches and a 65.5°F low, which makes evenings outdoors genuinely fresh. The statewide calendar sets those choices against the rest of Florida.
Of the three, December is the month that clears hurricane season outright without giving up a sea you can swim in at 77.6°F.
The last word
The decision here is a date, not a destination. Pick your December week, book the 8 a.m. Dry Tortugas boat before the room, because that is the one thing on the island that runs out, then let the rest fall into place around it. Somewhere in the waiting, order the pie: key lime pie is reported to have started in Key West in the late nineteenth century, built on sweetened condensed milk because fresh milk and refrigeration were scarce in the Keys until the 1930s, and Florida made it the official state pie in 2006. Take the beach in the middle of the day, and be through the Fort Zachary Taylor gate before the fort locks at 5 p.m.
Sources & data for this guide
- December highs, lows, precipitation and wet days · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 monthly normals, station USW00012836, Key West International Airport · checked Sep 24, 2026
- November and January normals, same station and same period · NOAA NCEI · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Sea surface 77.6°F, mean of daily maxima 2015–2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise and sunset for December 15, converted from UTC to Eastern time · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Hurricane season dates and the September 10 peak · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Transient rental tax of 5.0% with the 6% state sales tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Meter, garage and lot rates · City of Key West Parking Department · checked Sep 24, 2026 · rates change
- Fort Zachary Taylor fees, park hours and the 5 p.m. fort closing · Florida State Parks · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Hemingway Home hours, admission and the Snow White account, which is the museum’s own · hemingwayhome.com · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Dry Tortugas access, Yankee Freedom III departure, check-in and the 2026 adult fare · National Park Service and drytortugas.com · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Duval Loop: sources disagree on frequency and span, from every 20 minutes 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. to every 15 minutes until midnight · City of Key West and local guides · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Mile Marker 0 and the length of US-1, given as 2,369 or 2,390 miles to Fort Kent · Atlas Obscura and Key West Travel Guide · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Cruise-traffic referendum of November 2020 and SB 1194 · Seatrade Cruise and Florida Politics · checked Sep 24, 2026
- We could not verify any dated December event, so we name none, and we found no room-rate or occupancy series, so we crown no month expensive.
To plan your stay
- Things to Do in Key West: Hours, Prices, Hemingway House and the Dry Tortugas Ferry
- Where to Stay in Key West: Old Town, New Town and What Parking Costs
- Key West Airport to Old Town: Transfers, Parking and the Drive from Miami
- What to Know Before You Go to Key West: Parking, the Free Duval Loop, Sunset and the Dry Tortugas Ferry