The best time to visit the Florida Keys is late November to April, the dry season, and the sweet spot inside it is April. Key West averages 83 °F (28.1 °C) that month with under 3 rain days, and the sea is already 79 °F (25.9 °C). Avoid September, the wettest month with 7.2 inches (184 mm), the peak of hurricane season and, in 2025, the month when Keys hotels sat at 46.4 percent occupancy. Rooms follow the weather: $500 a night across the Keys in March 2026 against $290 in June. Start with our Florida Keys hotel guide.
The Florida Keys at a glance
- Best overall: March and April for dry, warm days, or late November and early December before the holiday rush.
- Warmest: August in Key West, average high 91 °F (32.6 °C), with nights that stay at 80 °F (26.9 °C).
- Coolest: January, average high 76 °F (24.3 °C) in Key West and 74 °F (23.1 °C) in Marathon.
- Wettest: September, 7.2 in (184 mm) in Key West and 8.5 in (215 mm) in Marathon.
- Driest: February and March, both near 1.5 in (39 mm) in Key West.
- Sea temperature: never below 76 °F (24.4 °C), peaking at 87 °F (30.3 °C) in August. The Keys are the only place in the continental United States where winter swimming is comfortable.
- Hurricane season: June 1 to November 30, with the statistical peak on September 10 and most activity between mid August and mid October.
What a Keys room cost month by month in 2026. Source: Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
Understanding the Florida Keys climate
The Keys are a 113 mile chain of low islands running southwest from the Florida mainland, closer to Havana than to Orlando. The climate is tropical savanna: hot and wet from May to October, warm and dry from November to April. Nothing here is more than a few feet above sea level and nothing is more than a mile or two from water, which is why the numbers look different from mainland Florida.
The Seven Mile Bridge between Marathon and the Lower Keys. Photo : United States Department of Transportation, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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The chain is not uniform, and the difference matters when you choose an island. Key West, at the far end, averages 40.4 inches (1,026 mm) of rain a year. Marathon, 50 miles back up the road in the Middle Keys, averages 57.2 inches (1,453 mm), 40 percent more, because it sits closer to the convective storms that build over the Everglades and drift south (NOAA NCEI, 1991-2020 normals). Marathon is also cooler at night in winter: 61 °F (16.2 °C) in January against 65 °F (18.6 °C) in Key West, where the surrounding water holds the heat.
The wet season is an afternoon, not a day
From May to October, Key West collects 72 percent of its annual rain. That reads worse than it plays out. September, the wettest month, still counts only 10.2 days with 0.1 inch of rain or more, which means two thirds of September days record no meaningful rain at all. The pattern is a build up of heat through the morning, a heavy shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon, then clearing. Divers lose fewer trips to rain than to wind.
The sea is the real constant
Water off Key West averages 76 °F (24.4 °C) in January and February, its coldest, and 87 °F (30.3 °C) in August (NOAA OISST satellite analysis, 2016-2025 means). Off Key Largo the figures are within a degree. Nowhere else in the continental United States does the sea stay swimmable in February. It is also why the reef, the third largest barrier reef system on earth, sits where it does.
Wind decides more than temperature
Winter cold fronts reach the Keys as wind rather than cold. A front passing in January or February can push northerly winds of 20 knots for two or three days, which stirs the water, cuts visibility on the ocean side and cancels reef trips. This is the one weakness of the dry season, and the reason experienced divers often prefer May and June, when the water is calmest.
The dry season: December to April
This is the high season, and the weather earns it. Highs in Key West climb from 78 °F (25.4 °C) in December to 83 °F (28.1 °C) in April, nights sit between 68 and 73 °F (20 to 23 °C), and rain is scarce: 1.5 in (39 mm) in February, the same in March, over fewer than 3 rain days a month. Humidity drops. Mosquitoes retreat.
Old Town Key West, at the corner of Front and Duval Street. Photo : Julian Lupyan, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
It is also the most expensive stretch of the year. Across Monroe County, hotels averaged $493 a night in February 2026 and $500 in March, at 88 percent occupancy, according to the Monroe County Tourist Development Council's monthly reports. By June the same hotels averaged $290. If you want the dry season without March prices, aim for the first two weeks of December or the last week of April.
What the dry season is good for:
- Walking Key West's Old Town, where summer heat makes the same walk hard work.
- Stone crab, open October 15 to May 1 (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). Our guide to stone crab season in Islamorada covers where the claws land.
- Sailfish and tarpon. Tarpon build through spring, covered in our tarpon season guide.
- Booking early. February and March sell out first, and our guide to peak season in the Keys explains which properties hold up when every room is taken.
The wet season: May to October
Heat and water define these months. Key West averages 86 °F (29.9 °C) in May, 90 °F (32.3 °C) in July and 91 °F (32.6 °C) in August, and the overnight low never drops below 76 °F (24.7 °C) from May to October. Rain climbs from 3.1 in (79 mm) in May to 7.2 in (184 mm) in September.
Bahia Honda State Park, the one true beach in the chain. Photo : Daniel Di Palma, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
May and early June are the underrated weeks: the water is flat, visibility on the reef is at its best, the sea has warmed to 81 to 84 °F (27 to 29 °C), and rates have dropped by a third from March. Late August through September is the opposite: hot, humid, stormy and quiet, with the trade off that you will have Bahia Honda's beaches almost to yourself. Our article on September in the Keys makes the case for going anyway.
Precautions for a wet season stay:
- Plan water activities for the morning. Afternoon storms build from about 2 p.m.
- Mosquitoes and no see ums are at their worst from June to October, especially at dusk in the mangroves.
- Sargassum, the floating seaweed that washes ashore, is heaviest from April to August on the Atlantic side beaches.
- Book a room with a flexible cancellation policy from August onward, for reasons that follow.
Hurricane season: June 1 to November 30
The Keys year: hurricane season, the lobster calendar and Fantasy Fest. Sources: NOAA National Hurricane Center, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, and the NOAA National Hurricane Center puts the climatological peak on September 10, with most activity between mid August and mid October. That is a statistical statement, not a forecast: the great majority of September days in the Keys are hot, humid and uneventful.
What is specific to the Keys is exposure. The islands are flat, the Overseas Highway is the only road out, and evacuation orders for visitors are issued before those for residents. Hurricane Irma made landfall at Cudjoe Key on September 10, 2017, and the chain was closed to visitors for weeks. That is the risk you are pricing when you book a September week at half the March rate.
How to handle it, without giving up the season:
- Travel with a refundable rate or insurance that names named storms, not just "severe weather".
- Watch the NHC outlook from about five days out, not the ten day app forecast.
- Understand that an evacuation order, not the storm itself, is what usually ends a trip.
- June and early July are inside the season but well before its peak, and are the cheapest weeks that still feel like summer.
Lobster mini-season and the fishing calendar
Two days in late July change the entire Keys. The spiny lobster sport season, universally called mini-season, runs on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July: July 28 and 29 in 2027. Tens of thousands of divers come down the Overseas Highway for it, every boat ramp fills, and hotel rooms in Marathon and the Lower Keys are booked months ahead.
The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, the target of the July sport season. Photo : NOAA, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
The rules, set by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, are stricter in the Keys than anywhere else in Florida:
- Bag limit of 6 lobsters per person per day in Monroe County, against 12 for the rest of the state.
- Night diving is prohibited in Monroe County during the sport season.
- No harvest in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the sport season, and none at any time in the no take zones of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
- Carapace must measure more than 3 inches, checked in the water, and a measuring device is required.
- The regular season then runs August 6 to March 31.
Our guide to lobster mini-season in the Keys goes through the gear and the boat logistics. If you are not diving for them, avoid those two days on the water entirely: the reef is crowded and the ramps are chaotic.
Florida Keys month by month
Key West month by month. Sources: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals and NOAA OISST 2016-2025.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Sea | Rain | Rain days | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 76 °F (24.3 °C) | 65 °F (18.6 °C) | 76 °F (24.4 °C) | 1.8 in (46 mm) | 3.3 | Dry, cool, busy |
| February | 77 °F (25.2 °C) | 67 °F (19.5 °C) | 76 °F (24.4 °C) | 1.5 in (39 mm) | 2.4 | Driest, peak season |
| March | 80 °F (26.4 °C) | 69 °F (20.7 °C) | 77 °F (25.0 °C) | 1.5 in (39 mm) | 2.9 | Warm, priciest |
| April | 83 °F (28.1 °C) | 73 °F (22.8 °C) | 79 °F (25.9 °C) | 2.1 in (53 mm) | 2.8 | The best balance |
| May | 86 °F (29.9 °C) | 76 °F (24.7 °C) | 81 °F (27.4 °C) | 3.1 in (79 mm) | 4.1 | Flat water, good value |
| June | 89 °F (31.5 °C) | 79 °F (26.3 °C) | 84 °F (28.8 °C) | 4.2 in (107 mm) | 6.4 | Hot, cheapest rooms |
| July | 90 °F (32.3 °C) | 81 °F (27.0 °C) | 86 °F (30.0 °C) | 3.6 in (92 mm) | 6.8 | Hot, lobster fever |
| August | 91 °F (32.6 °C) | 80 °F (26.9 °C) | 87 °F (30.3 °C) | 5.4 in (136 mm) | 9.1 | Hottest, storm watch |
| September | 89 °F (31.7 °C) | 79 °F (26.2 °C) | 86 °F (30.0 °C) | 7.2 in (184 mm) | 10.2 | Wettest, emptiest |
| October | 86 °F (29.9 °C) | 77 °F (24.9 °C) | 84 °F (28.8 °C) | 5.7 in (144 mm) | 7.6 | Wet, then Fantasy Fest |
| November | 81 °F (27.2 °C) | 72 °F (22.3 °C) | 81 °F (27.2 °C) | 2.0 in (52 mm) | 3.0 | Dry season returns |
| December | 78 °F (25.4 °C) | 68 °F (20.2 °C) | 78 °F (25.6 °C) | 2.2 in (55 mm) | 3.1 | Warm, holiday rush |
Sources: air temperature, rainfall and rain days, NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, station Key West International Airport. A rain day is a day with 0.1 in (2.5 mm) or more. Sea temperature, NOAA OISST satellite analysis, monthly means 2016-2025, waters off Key West. Marathon and Key Largo figures quoted elsewhere on this page come from the same NOAA normals, station Marathon Airport.
The best time for what you want to do
The Keys run on seasons that have nothing to do with temperature: what is legal to catch, what is calm enough to dive, what has arrived in the channels. Here is the calendar that matters.
Christ of the Abyss, on the reef off Key Largo in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Photo : Sebastian Carlosena, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A dive boat over the reef off Key Largo. Illustration: Stay In Florida Keys. Illustration : Luxury & Premium Hotel Booking in Florida Keys.
- Diving and snorkeling the reef: May to early July, when the water is calm and clear and the sea sits at 81 to 86 °F (27 to 30 °C). Winter has good visibility too, until a front blows through. See how to snorkel the Great Florida Reef.
- Tarpon: April to June, when the silver king moves through the bridges and channels around Islamorada and Bahia Honda.
- Stone crab: October 15 to May 1, the only window when the claws are legal.
- Lobster: the two day sport season in late July, then August 6 to March 31.
- Beaches: March and April, before the sargassum peak and while the water is clear. Bahia Honda State Park is the one true beach in the chain.
- Families: spring break aside, late April and early May, when the sea is warm and the heat has not yet arrived. Our Florida Keys with kids guide covers the logistics.
- Value: June and September, the two cheapest months, for opposite reasons. June is hot but calm, September is hot and stormy.
- Sunsets: any month. Mallory Square runs its sunset celebration nightly, and our sunset time guide gives the hour by season.
Events that shape the year
The sunset celebration at Mallory Square. Illustration: Stay In Florida Keys. Illustration : Luxury & Premium Hotel Booking in Florida Keys.
- Fantasy Fest, October: ten days of parades and costume in Key West, October 16 to 25 in 2026 and October 22 to 31 in 2027. The single hardest week of the year to find a room.
- Hemingway Days, July: Key West marks the writer's July 21 birthday with readings, a short story award and the look alike contest at Sloppy Joe's.
- Underwater Music Festival, July: at Looe Key Reef off Big Pine Key, a Lower Keys institution and a reef awareness event.
- Lobster mini-season, late July: two days, the whole chain full.
- Key West Songwriters Festival, May: dozens of concerts in small rooms across the island.
- Stone crab opening, October 15: the start of the season the Keys' kitchens organize their winter around.
- Christmas and New Year: the holiday fortnight books as hard as Fantasy Fest and costs more.
The Southernmost Point buoy in Key West, 90 miles from Cuba. Photo : Todd Feit, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Where to stay
Which island suits you changes with the season. In winter, Key West's Old Town puts everything within walking distance when the wind is up. In summer, a property with its own dock or beach matters more than a street address.
- Key West hotels: the Old Town base, best from December to April and during Fantasy Fest.
- Islamorada hotels: the fishing capital, at its best from April to June for tarpon and flats.
- Marathon hotels: the middle of the chain, closest to Bahia Honda and Sombrero Beach, and the practical base for mini-season.
- Key Largo hotels: closest to Miami and to John Pennekamp, the reef diving base.
- The Gardens Hotel: a walled garden property in Old Town Key West, shaded enough to work in summer.
- Grassy Flats Resort and Beach Club: on the water in Marathon, with its own beach club.
Conch houses and the lighthouse in Key West. Illustration: Stay In Florida Keys. Illustration : Luxury & Premium Hotel Booking in Florida Keys.
FAQ
What is the best month to visit the Florida Keys?
April. Key West averages 83 °F (28.1 °C), the sea has warmed to 79 °F (25.9 °C), rain falls on fewer than 3 days in the month, and rates have come off the March peak. March runs it close on weather but is the most expensive month of the year, at an average $500 a night across the Keys in 2026.
What is the cheapest month to go to the Florida Keys?
June, at an average $290 a night across Monroe County hotels in 2026, against $500 in March. September is similarly cheap and much emptier, with Keys occupancy at 46.4 percent in September 2025, but it is also the peak of hurricane season and the wettest month of the year.
What is the rainy season in the Florida Keys?
May to October, when Key West collects 72 percent of its 40.4 inches (1,026 mm) of annual rain. September is the wettest month at 7.2 inches (184 mm). Rain usually arrives as an afternoon thunderstorm rather than an all day event, and even September counts only about 10 days with measurable rain.
When is hurricane season in the Florida Keys?
June 1 to November 30. The NOAA National Hurricane Center puts the climatological peak on September 10, with most activity from mid August to mid October. The Keys are exposed because they are flat and served by a single road, so an evacuation order is the practical risk. Book refundable rates from August onward.
Is it warm enough to swim in the Keys in January?
Yes. The sea off Key West averages 76 °F (24.4 °C) in January, its coldest month, which is warmer than the Mediterranean in summer. Air highs average 76 °F (24.3 °C). The limiting factor in winter is wind: a cold front can bring three days of 20 knot northerlies that stir the water.
When is lobster mini-season in the Florida Keys?
The spiny lobster sport season falls on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July, which is July 28 and 29 in 2027. In Monroe County the limit is 6 lobsters per person and night diving is banned during those two days. The regular season then runs from August 6 to March 31.
What is the worst time to visit Key West?
Mid August to the end of September, when heat and humidity peak, rain is at its heaviest and hurricane risk is at its statistical maximum. It is also the cheapest and quietest stretch of the year, so the answer depends on what you are optimizing for. Fantasy Fest in late October is the worst time if you want a quiet island.
How many days do you need in the Florida Keys?
Four to five days for the whole chain, allowing about four hours of driving from Key Largo to Key West with stops. Three days is enough for Key West alone. If you plan to dive the reef, add a day: boats leave in the morning and you should not fly within 24 hours of a dive.