Florida Keys Weather

The weather in the Florida Keys is the main reason people visit. Pale, trodden winter-weary northerners come each winter to revive their spirits and escape the snowy misery that lies back home. In summertime, hot city-weary visitors come from Miami to escape the urban heat and get out on the water. It seems Florida Keys weather is always better than elsewhere, and that’s part of the reason why people love it here. Spring is great too, with Winter winds finally, thank goodness, dying down so boaters and anglers can relax out there on the seas. Not that wind is bad for fishing, but it’s not fun driving a small boat through 3 and 4-foot waves when the wind kicks up.

Luckily, wind is really the only downside of winter, and that itself doesn’t really bother most people (just the boaters). Otherwise, the months of December, January, February and March are wonderfully sunny and temperatures in the the 70’s and 80’s with the occasional cold spell causing the thermometer to dip into the 60’s (oh my)! Needless to say, these months are our busiest, since it’s when the weather is the worst up north, and best down here. Water temperatures are in the low 70’s in winter, so it’s warm enough to swim or snorkel or dive, but a wetsuit is good idea if you plan on staying in the water for longer than a short dip. If you go snorkeling or diving, a wetsuit in winter is a good idea because you’ll want to stay in the water long enough comfortably in order to explore the reef.

Spring

Spring is perfect weather here, with water temperatures warming up a bit and winds dying down. It’s 80 degree weather from here on out for a while but it’s not humid yet so a very pleasant season.

Summer

Summer is hot but not as humid as other parts of Southern Florida, since we are tropical islands with ocean breezes and lots of trees. In fact, people come here in summertime from other parts of Florida to escape the heat, humidity, and summertime blues. The end of summer is probably the quietest time in the Florida Keys, since hurricane season really starts to get serious now. The official start of hurricane season is June 1, but we start to watch the radar closely for real storms in August. This continues through October, so August and September are probably the quietest and therefore cheapest times to come to the Florida Keys. Then at the end of October, we get Fantasy Fest in Key West, and the crowds start rolling in again, right on through the Christmas season. Christmas is a very busy time in the Keys, because weather now is really perfect (cooled off a little, and not extremely windy yet). Fantasy Fest is about the time the summer and autumn heat start to pull back a bit, giving relief to everyone around. However, not much relief from the weather is ever necessary, since the Keys have wonderful weather all year long. Minus the possible hurricane, that is!