RAINBOW SPRINGS, FLORIDA · DECEMBER · THE MONTH IN NUMBERS
The spring pours out at about 73.8°F every day of the year. In December the air above it does not keep up: 69.3°F on an average afternoon, 45.2°F at dawn, and close to four nights at or below freezing. That gap is the whole story of a December swim here, and none of it reaches the water.
Two nights is the right unit for a trip built around one spring: one full day for the water and the 3.4 miles of trail, one for a paddle. Nobody flies in for this, so the real question is which weekend you drive up, and whether you want it before the school break or after. The statewide view sits in our Florida calendar.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · RAINBOW SPRINGS · DECEMBER
December gives you swimmable 73.8°F water under cool, mostly dry air and takes back daylight and warm mornings: come for two nights, swim after lunch, and pack a real jacket for the 45.2°F dawns.
AVERAGE HIGH 69.3°F · 4.5 WET DAYS · WATER NEAR 73.8°F · 10 HR 20 MIN OF DAYLIGHT
Go for: a swim at 73.8°F in air that is cooler than the water, 3.4 miles of trail walkable at noon, and a parking lot that is not fighting a summer Saturday.
Think twice before: camping, with 3.7 nights at or below 32°F in an average December, or planning a towel-and-sunbathe day around a 69.3°F afternoon.
Air: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, Gainesville Regional Airport station · Water: USGS gauge 02313095 · Facilities: Florida DEP 2024 inventory
On this page
- Rainbow Springs weather in December69.3°F days, 2.88 inches of rain
- How cold the nights get45.2°F average low, 3.7 freezes
- Crowds, parking and fees in December356 spaces and what we could not verify
- Things to do in December2 swim areas, 3.4 miles of trail
- A two-day itineraryDay one and day two, hour by hour
- December vs November and JanuaryThree months of normals in one table
- Is December a good time to visit?Who should go, who should wait
The short version: the water holds near 73.8°F, the air runs 69.3°F by day and 45.2°F at dawn, and the normals below say exactly where each number was measured. For the spring itself rather than the date, start with our Rainbow Springs guide.
Rainbow Springs weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days
| December measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Average high | 69.3°F |
| Average low | 45.2°F |
| Precipitation | 2.88 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 4.5 |
| Days with 1 in or more | 0.9 |
| Nights at 32°F or below | 3.7 |
| Daylight on December 15 | 10 hr 20 min |
| Spring water, gauge reading | 73.8°F |
Every figure here comes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991-2020 monthly normals, and the thermometer is not at the spring: station USW00012816 sits at Gainesville Regional Airport, about 48 miles (78 km) away. Those normals describe the air and only the air. The water has its own instrument, a USGS gauge at the spring itself, and the two numbers move independently.
December totals 2.88 inches over 4.5 days that record at least a tenth of an inch, so measurable rain turns up about one day in seven and roughly 26 days record less than that. The soaking day, an inch or more, averages 0.9 per December: most years hand you one, some hand you none. A wet day costs you the trail more than the swim, because 73.8°F water feels the same under cloud.
Between dawn and mid-afternoon the air moves 24.1°F, from the 45.2°F low to the 69.3°F high. Pack for two climates in one bag: fleece and long pants for the 7 a.m. hour, shorts and short sleeves for the middle of the day, and a second towel, since you will be drying off into air cooler than the water you just left.
On December 15 the sun rises at 7:15 a.m. and sets at 5:35 p.m. local time, 10 hours and 20 minutes of daylight, the shortest stretch of the year. That reshapes the day more than the temperature does. Put the swim in the block between noon and 3 p.m., and count on being packed up by five.
How warm is Rainbow Springs in December?
The month averages a 69.3°F high and a 45.2°F low, 24.1°F apart. Set those against the spring’s 73.8°F and the arithmetic flips twice a day: the water runs 4.5°F warmer than a normal December afternoon and 28.6°F warmer than a normal December dawn. That reading came off the USGS gauge at the spring on September 11, 2026, a single instantaneous measurement rather than a monthly average, and it reads close to that every day of the year.
Mornings ask for real clothes. At 45.2°F you want a fleece or light jacket, closed shoes and long pants for the first hour or two on foot. By one in the afternoon the same day is 69.3°F, warm in the sun and cool in shade. Wear the swimsuit under the layers and keep a dry set in the car, because changing back matters more in December than the swim does.
Freezing nights are not a rumor at this latitude: an average December brings 3.7 nights at or below 32°F, roughly one night in eight. Campers feel that far more than day visitors do. A frost overnight changes nothing in the water, and the gauge reads the same number the next morning.
How busy is Rainbow Springs in December? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
The number that decides a busy day here is 356, the parking spaces the state counts at Rainbow Springs State Park. When the lot fills, the gate closes, and that is a summer Saturday problem rather than a December one. On money we stay quiet: we found no occupancy series and no monthly room-rate series for the area, so we crown no month cheapest and none most expensive. The one stretch of this month that visibly moves people is the school break in the last two weeks.
We could not verify a booking window for cabins or campsites at the park, so we give no number of weeks ahead. Two things still hold: reserve lodging early if your dates fall in the holiday fortnight, and plan on driving, since we found no transit service to the gate. Beds and budgets are handled in where to stay, trip cost and getting around Florida.
On fees we have a gap, and we would rather name it than paper over it. The Florida state parks site returns a 403 to automated reads, so we could not read an entrance fee or a posted opening hour for this park, and we quote neither. We could not verify a county lodging-tax rate either, so we give no percentage. Call the park or read the sign at the gate before you budget the day.
If one line of the budget changes December, it is the roof over the night. With 3.7 nights at or below freezing, a heated room makes a cold, short-lit evening a non-event, while a tent makes it the part of the trip you describe to people later. The rest of what the month asks for costs nothing: a fleece, a spare towel, and the willingness to swim at one in the afternoon instead of nine in the morning.
Things to do in Rainbow Springs in December
December hands you the middle of the day back. At 69.3°F the park’s 3.4 miles of trail are walkable at noon, when the same walk in midsummer heat is a chore, and the water you step into afterward is warmer than the air you left it for. Summer reverses both halves of that, and the lot reaches its 356-space ceiling on top of it.
The state’s own inventory counts what the park holds: 2 designated swimming areas, 332 feet of boardwalk, 1 observation platform, 3.4 miles of hiking trail and 2 launches for canoes, kayaks and tubes. Those counts come from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s 2024 recreational facilities inventory, a 374-page annual report. We carry no price for any of it, because the park’s fee list did not load for us.
The water reads the same in July as in December, so what the month changes is the distance to it: 28.6°F between a 45.2°F dawn and the spring, then 4.5°F in the other direction by mid-afternoon. Get in before lunch and the exit is the cold part. Get in at two and the swim is the warm part of the day. The boardwalk and the observation platform fill the early hours well while the air catches up.
As for what costs nothing this month, we cannot tell you, and that is the plain state of our reading: treat the entrance as a paid one and ask at the gate. Manatees are a separate question. No manatee count for this spring appears in the state data we could read, so we promise none, and the winter gatherings people drive for are over at Crystal River. That trip is covered in our manatee guide.
Rainbow Springs in December: a two-day itinerary
Day one starts later than a summer day would. Sunrise is 7:15 a.m. on December 15, and we could not read the park’s posted opening hour, so confirm it before you set an alarm. Walk the 3.4 miles of trail first, while the air is still near the night’s 45.2°F, then take the boardwalk and the observation platform. Swim between noon and 3 p.m., when the 69.3°F air makes climbing out bearable, and be dry and dressed by 4:30 for a 5:35 p.m. sunset.
Day two goes on the water: a canoe, kayak or tube from one of the 2 launches, then the second of the 2 swimming areas after lunch. If the sky closes in, and 4.5 days in an average December it does, swap the order rather than the weekend. Rain does nothing to 73.8°F water, and a swim in drizzle beats 3.4 miles of wet trail.
Rainbow Springs in December vs November and January
| Measure | November | December | January |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 74.7°F | 69.3°F | 67.1°F |
| Average low | 50.6°F | 45.2°F | 42.6°F |
| Precipitation | 1.79 in | 2.88 in | 3.29 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.0 | 4.5 | 5.2 |
| Spring water | about 73.8°F | about 73.8°F | about 73.8°F |
November runs 5.4°F warmer by day and 5.4°F warmer by night than December, 74.7°F and 50.6°F against 69.3°F and 45.2°F, with 1.79 inches of rain over 3.0 wet days instead of 2.88 inches over 4.5. January drops less than most people expect: 67.1°F and 42.6°F, or 2.2°F and 2.6°F below December, but it is the wettest of the three at 3.29 inches and 5.2 wet days. The spring reads about 73.8°F through all of it.
Move four weeks earlier and you buy warmer mornings and a drier month, and you give up the short-day quiet December brings. Move four weeks later and you pay 0.41 inch of rain and 0.7 of a wet day for air that is barely colder, with the same water waiting. The earlier case is laid out in full in our November guide.
Is December a good time to visit Rainbow Springs?
Yes if the trip is about the water rather than sunbathing beside it. At 73.8°F the spring is as swimmable on December 20 as in July, the 3.4 miles of trail are pleasanter at 69.3°F than in midsummer heat, and the 356-space lot is not the daily race it becomes in August. No if you picture lying on a towel between swims, or if you are putting small children in a tent through 3.7 freezing nights.
For anyone in that second group, November is the month to take instead: 74.7°F afternoons, 50.6°F nights and 1.79 inches of rain over 3.0 wet days, with the same unchanging water and without the freezes. January offers nothing December does not, at 67.1°F and 3.29 inches, so shifting late is the weaker move.
One thing belongs to December alone: the shortest days of the year over water that has not moved a degree, so a 10-hour-20-minute day and a 73.8°F swim land on the same afternoon.
The last word
Book the room with heat, drive up midweek, and put the swim after lunch instead of before it. One last thing about the place you are driving to: Florida law keeps a protected class called Outstanding Florida Springs, taking in every historic first-magnitude spring the Florida Geological Survey determines plus six named by hand in the statute. Statute or no statute, the gauge will read close to 73.8°F when you get in, and the air at 5:35 p.m. will not.
Sources & data for this guide
- December normals (69.3°F high, 45.2°F low, 2.88 in, 4.5 days at 0.10 in or more, 0.9 day at 1 in or more, 3.7 nights at 32°F or below) · NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00012816, Gainesville Regional Airport, FL, about 48 miles from the spring · checked Sep 24, 2026
- November and January normals used in the comparison · same NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 series and station · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Sunrise 7:15 a.m., sunset 5:35 p.m., 10 hr 20 min of daylight on December 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted from UTC to local time · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Spring water at 73.8°F (23.2°C), an instantaneous reading rather than a monthly average · USGS National Water Information System, station 02313095 Rainbow Springs · checked Sep 24, 2026
- 356 parking spaces, 2 swimming areas, 3.4 miles of trail, 332 feet of boardwalk, 1 observation platform, 2 paddle launches · Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 annual report (PDF, 374 pages) · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Outstanding Florida Springs definition · Florida Statutes 373.802(5), leg.state.fl.us · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Entrance fee, opening hours and manatee numbers: floridastateparks.org returned a 403 to our reads and the FWC manatee pages render client-side, so we verified none of the three and quote none · checked Sep 24, 2026