TROY SPRING · FLORIDA · DECEMBER
In December the air at Troy Spring averages a 68.2°F high and a 44.4°F low, while the spring itself was reading 71.4°F when the USGS gauge was checked on September 11, 2026. November afternoons still averaged 74.4°F, comfortably above the water. December’s do not, and that flip is the whole month in one line: from here until spring, the water is the warm part of the visit and the walk back to the car is the cold one.
What the date takes away is daylight and margin. December 15 gives about 10 hours 16 minutes of it, the sun is gone by 5:35 p.m., 4.6 days in the month record measurable rain and 6.2 nights drop to freezing. What it hands back is space: the state counts 25 parking spaces at Troy Spring State Park, and in December nobody is racing you for them. Park layout, directions and the rest live on the main Troy Spring guide.
TROY SPRING AT A GLANCE · DECEMBER
December trades November’s 74.4°F afternoons for 68.2°F ones and changes nothing about the 71.4°F water, so the swim stays easy and the ten minutes afterward get harder.
AVG HIGH 68.2°F · 4.6 RAIN DAYS · 6.2 FREEZE NIGHTS · 25 PARKING SPACES
Go for: 71.4°F water under a 68.2°F afternoon, a 25-space lot nobody is fighting over, and 0.4 miles of paddling trail at your own pace.
Think twice before: planning a towel-and-sunbathe day: 6.2 December nights fall to 32°F or below and the light is gone by 5:35 p.m.
Air: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, Cross City AP · Water: USGS gauge 02320250 · Facilities: Florida DEP 2024 inventory
On this page
- Troy Spring weather in DecemberHighs of 68.2°F and 4.6 rain days
- How warm it feels, morning and afternoonA 23.8-degree swing, and 71.4°F water
- Crowds and parking in December25 spaces, and when they matter
- Things to do in DecemberThe swim area, the launch, 0.4 miles of paddling
- A two-day plan around the short daylightTwo days built on a 5:35 p.m. sunset
- December against November and JanuaryHow the three months compare
- Is December a good time to come?Who should come now, who should wait
Everything here is tied to the date. Beds, driving distances and what a Florida week costs sit in the cost guide and the getting-around guide, and the statewide season runs through our month-by-month verdict.
Troy Spring 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 | 10h 16m |
The normals here are NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals from station USW00012833 at Cross City AP, a real thermometer about 27 miles (44 km) from the spring, not a reanalysis grid cell. They measure air. A December afternoon there averages 68.2°F, a December night 44.4°F, and the month collects 2.95 inches of rain. Twenty-seven miles is enough distance that you should read these as the shape of the month rather than the reading at the parking lot.
Of that rainfall, 4.6 days in an average December record at least 0.10 inch, roughly one day in seven, and 0.8 day records an inch or more, so a real soaking turns up in about four Decembers out of five. The rest of the month is dry ground and open sky. Rain matters less to the swim than you would think, since you are already wet. It matters to the picnic table, the dry clothes and the drive.
Between 68.2°F and 44.4°F sit 23.8 degrees, and a single visit will show you both ends. Pack two climates into one bag: fleece and long pants for the walk from the car at eight, shorts for the hours either side of noon, and two towels rather than one. The second towel is the one that gets you back to the car warm.
December 15 runs about 10 hours 16 minutes of daylight. Converted from the published UTC times, the sun comes up near 7:19 a.m. Eastern and goes down near 5:35 p.m., and the last hour before sunset cools quickly. A swim that starts at four ends in fading light and falling air. Noon to three is the usable window, and it is shorter than it sounds once you have parked, changed and walked in.
How warm is Troy Spring in December?
The air answers first: 68.2°F on an average afternoon, 44.4°F on an average night, a swing of 23.8 degrees. The spring refuses to play along. The USGS gauge at Troy Spring, station 02320250, read 71.4°F on September 11, 2026, and it reads close to that number every day of the year. That was one instantaneous reading rather than a December average, and we found no monthly water series, so take 71.4°F as the neighborhood the vent lives in, not a forecast.
In practice the water is the warm part of a December morning. At eight the air is nearer 44°F than 68°F, so the fleece comes to the water’s edge and comes off there. By one o’clock the air is up around its 68.2°F average and climbing out stops being a shock. A hooded towel, dry socks and a spare shirt cover the gap: the swim is easy at any hour, the ten minutes afterward are not.
About 6.2 nights in an average December fall to 32°F or below at the Cross City station, roughly one night in five. Those are the mornings with frost on the windshield and 71.4°F water a short walk away, which is a stranger sensation than any photograph conveys. Anyone sleeping outdoors in the area should pack for a genuine freeze rather than a Florida one.
How busy is Troy Spring in December?
The state counts 25 parking spaces at Troy Spring State Park, and when the lot fills, the gate closes. That number, more than any opening hour, is what decides a summer Saturday. December sits inside Florida’s dry season, which runs November through April across the whole state, but the pressure on those 25 spaces in December comes from a clear weekend forecast rather than from heat.
We found no occupancy series and no visitor counts for the park, so we crown no month busy and no month cheap. What can be said is mechanical. Twenty-five spaces means the midday hours of a bright Saturday are the one slot with real risk, and a weekday morning in December is the one with almost none. Roll in by ten on a weekend and the arithmetic stops applying to you.
We could not verify an entrance fee or an opening hour: the Florida State Parks website answered our automated reads with a 403 on September 11, 2026, so we quote no gate price and no gate time. We could not verify a lodging-tax rate for the county either, so we give no percentage. Check the park’s own page the morning you drive, and budget for a vehicle charge you will not know until you see it.
Spending money on December here buys warmth rather than access. A 3mm wetsuit or even a shorty turns 71.4°F from a five-minute plunge into an hour of snorkeling, and a thermos does more for a 44°F walk back than any upgrade further up the road. Rentals, beds and the car itself are handled in our Florida cost guide.
Things to do in Troy Spring in December
December is the month the 25-space lot stops being the story. The state’s inventory counts a single designated swimming area, and on a summer Saturday that one area and those 25 spaces have to share the day. In December you can be in the water at nine with room to spread out, snorkel the run without queuing for it, and set your own timetable instead of the parking lot’s.
Troy Spring State Park is small and counted precisely by the Florida DEP’s 2024 Recreational Facilities Inventory: 1 designated swimming area, 1 launch for canoes, kayaks and tubes, 0.4 miles of paddling trail, 0.3 miles of hiking trail, 50 feet of boardwalk and the 25 parking spaces. Half a mile of paddling and a third of a mile of walking make an afternoon rather than a weekend, so pair it with something else on the drive.
The water does not move with the calendar, so what December changes is the air above it. The spring holds about 71.4°F in July and about 71.4°F on December 22. What shifts is the 27-degree gap between that water and a 44.4°F dawn, and the 3-degree gap between it and a 68.2°F afternoon. In December the spring is the warm thing you climb out of, and the 50 feet of boardwalk is where you stand dripping, so leave a dry layer waiting at the top of it.
We could not verify what the gate charges, so we cannot draw a line between free and paid here. The 0.3-mile trail, the boardwalk and the swim area all sit behind the same parking lot, so whatever the vehicle charge covers, it covers all three. Bring your own tube or kayak: the inventory counts a launch, and we found no rental concession listed with it.
Troy Spring in December: a two-day itinerary
Day one runs on a 7:19 a.m. sunrise and a 5:35 p.m. sunset. Reach the gate around nine, while the 25 spaces are still open, and walk the 0.3-mile trail first with the air somewhere in the forties and fifties. Save the water for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., closest to the 68.2°F average high. Paddle the 0.4-mile trail afterward, dry and moving, and be back at the car by half past four with light to spare.
Day two takes the same shape with the mask on longer, because 71.4°F stops registering as cold somewhere around minute three of the second session. If the sky turns, and 4.6 days a month it does, the swim survives rain better than the lunch does. The inventory lists no shelter, so heavy rain means the car. A full day of it is the day to drive instead, and our manatee-swimming guide covers the winter alternatives.
Troy Spring in December vs November and January
| Normal | 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 | About 71.4°F | About 71.4°F | About 71.4°F |
Across the three months the water is the only line that holds still. Afternoons fall from 74.4°F in November to 68.2°F in December to 65.9°F in January, 8.5 degrees from one side of winter to the other. Nights follow the same slope, 49.2°F to 44.4°F to 41.8°F. Rain builds rather than eases: 2.10 inches over 3.4 wet days, then 2.95 over 4.6, then 3.38 over 5.7.
Moving four weeks earlier buys 6.2 degrees of afternoon and 0.85 inch less rain, so November is the warmer, drier half of the trade. Moving four weeks later costs 2.3 degrees and adds 1.1 wet days, so January asks more of your luck with the sky. We found no visitor counts for any of the three, so none of them gets crowned the quiet one, and the 71.4°F water is identical in all three.
Is December a good time to visit Troy Spring?
Yes for anyone who came for the water and can handle the walk back. The spring holds 71.4°F in any month, a 68.2°F afternoon is pleasant in the sun, and the 25-space lot is not working against you. No for anyone whose mental image includes drying off on a towel afterward. With 6.2 freeze nights and a 44.4°F average low, December mornings here do not dry anybody off.
If the answer is no, take November instead: 74.4°F afternoons, 3.4 wet days rather than 4.6, and the same 71.4°F in the vent. That is the month to book when the time on the bank matters as much as the time in the water. January moves the other way on every line except the spring itself, which never moves at all.
December’s particular offer is the contrast: a dawn that sits at or below freezing 6.2 nights out of the month, water at 71.4°F all day long, and an afternoon that still climbs to 68.2°F to warm you back up.
The last word
One decision shapes this month: whether you can get hold of a wetsuit. With one, December at Troy Spring is an hour underwater in a state that writes its biggest springs into law, since Florida Statutes 373.802(5) defines the Outstanding Florida Springs as every historic first-magnitude spring plus six more named by hand in the text. Without one, it is a bright, brisk twenty minutes and a long warm-up in the car. Either way, aim to be in the water by eleven.
Sources & data for this guide
- December highs, lows, rainfall, rain days and freeze nights · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012833, Cross City AP, FL · checked Sep 24, 2026
- November and January normals · same NOAA NCEI series and station · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise and sunset for December 15, converted from UTC · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Spring water at 71.4°F · U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System, station 02320250 Troy Spring, instantaneous reading · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Parking spaces, swimming area, launch, paddling and hiking trail lengths, boardwalk · 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
- We could not verify an entrance fee, an opening hour, a lodging-tax rate or any manatee count: floridastateparks.org returned 403 to our automated reads and the FWC manatee pages render client-side · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Clothing, timing and wetsuit advice is editorial; park charges and hours change · check the park before you drive.