December Weather in Destin Florida, United States

Daily high temperatures decrease by 5°F, from 67°F to 62°F, rarely falling below 50°F or exceeding 75°F.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 5°F, from 52°F to 47°F, rarely falling below 33°F or exceeding 66°F.

For reference, on July 23, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Destin typically range from 78°F to 88°F, while on January 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 46°F to 61°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on December. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Yingdu, China (8,285 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Destin (view comparison).

© OpenStreetMap contributors

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The month of December in Destin experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 40% to 44%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 45% on December 25.

The clearest day of the month is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 60% of the time.

For reference, on July 21, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 60%, while on October 27, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 67%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Destin, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is essentially constant, remaining around 28% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 59% on July 29, and its lowest chance is 20% on October 28.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during December in Destin is essentially constant, remaining about 4.0 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 7.3 inches or falling below 1.3 inches.

Over the course of December in Destin, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the month is December 21, with 10 hours, 11 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 1, with 10 hours, 19 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month in Destin is 6:25 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 17 minutes later at 6:42 AM on December 31.

The earliest sunset is 4:44 PM on December 2 and the latest sunset is 11 minutes later at 4:55 PM on December 31.

Daylight saving time is observed in Destin during 2025, but it neither starts nor ends during December, so the entire month is in standard time.

For reference, on June 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:44 AM and sets 14 hours, 7 minutes later, at 7:51 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:38 AM and sets 10 hours, 11 minutes later, at 4:49 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for December 2025. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Destin is decreasing during December, falling from 16% to 9% over the course of the month.

For reference, on August 6, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 99% of the time, while on January 31, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 4% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Destin is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 9.9 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 22, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.2 miles per hour, while on August 9, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.5 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Destin throughout December is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 38% on December 31.

Destin is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Destin is gradually decreasing during December, falling by 4°F, from 70°F to 66°F, over the course of the month.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Destin typically lasts for 11 months (324 days), from around February 4 to around December 25, rarely starting after March 5, or ending before December 4.

During December in Destin, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly decreasing falling from 93% to 37% over the course of the month.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Destin are increasing during December, increasing by 248°F, from 6,876°F to 7,124°F, over the course of the month.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Destin is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.2 kWh of 3.2 kWh throughout.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 3.0 kWh on December 21.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Destin are 30.394 deg latitude, -86.496 deg longitude, and 20 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Destin is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 33 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 5 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (131 feet). Within 50 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (354 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Destin is covered by water (61%) and artificial surfaces (31%), within 10 miles by water (70%) and artificial surfaces (18%), and within 50 miles by water (49%) and trees (34%).

This report illustrates the typical weather in Destin, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

There are 3 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Destin.

For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Destin according to the International Standard Atmosphere, and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations.

The estimated value at Destin is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Destin and a given station.

The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:

• Destin Executive Airport (KDTS, 86%, 1.5 mi, east, 0 ft elevation change)
• Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport (KVPS, 10%, 6 mi, north, 66 ft elevation change)
• Hurlburt Field (KHRT, 4.1%, 11 mi, west, 16 ft elevation change)

KDTS, 86% 1 mi, 0 ft KVPS, 10% 6 mi, 66 ft KHRT, 4% 11 mi, 16 ft © OpenStreetMap contributors

To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Destin and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data.

Other Data

All data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition, by Jean Meeus.

All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis. This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid.

Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database.

Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com.

Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Disclaimer

The information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site.

We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands.

We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader.

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