In July, typical afternoon highs at Key West Mallory Square run around 85°F (hot). Mid-afternoon sun stands about 70° high, and the sun is up from 6:47 AM to 8:18 PM. Waterfronts and boardwalks are exposed, but sea breeze takes the edge off the heat.
See live sun & real shadows here →| January | 70°F |
| February | 75°F |
| March | 75°F |
| April | 78°F |
| May | 82°F |
| June | 84°F |
| July | 85°F |
| August | 87°F |
| September | 85°F |
| October | 83°F |
| November | 77°F |
| December | 76°F |
Waterfronts and boardwalks are exposed, but sea breeze takes the edge off the heat. See real building shadows over satellite imagery for any time of day: https://isthereshade.com/?anywhere&at=24.55998,-81.80743
Around 8:18 PM local time in mid-July (it shifts through the year). Sunrise is about 6:47 AM.
Key West Mallory Square · Key West, FL. Data: exact sun position; climate normals from historical weather; live forecast on the interactive view.
This is a place built around the end of the day, and the sun-and-shade math follows suit. Mallory Square is an open waterfront plaza at the western tip of Key West, famous for the crowd that gathers each evening to watch the sun drop into the Gulf. The plaza is largely open pavement facing the water, so there is little natural shade, but the steady sea breeze takes the edge off the heat in a way inland sites never get.
Key West is warm year-round and remarkably even. Summer afternoons reach about 85°F in July and peak near 87°F in August, and even January stays around 70°F. Those numbers are milder than much of the mainland South, and the constant breeze off the Gulf makes the open plaza feel better than the temperature suggests. This is not a place where heat turns dangerous easily, though the sun itself is strong this far south.
On a July afternoon the sun climbs very high, about 70 degrees, and sits in the west. That high angle means shade is scarce across the open square through the middle of the day:
With sunrise near 6:47 AM and sunset around 8:18 PM, the daily rhythm at Mallory Square bends toward the evening. The sunset celebration is the signature event, and by the time the sun is low in the west the heat has eased and the light is the whole point. Earlier in the day the square is quieter and, in the morning, cooler, but the middle hours are open and hot under a nearly overhead sun.
The gentle windows are early morning and the run-up to the evening sunset. During the exposed midday, plan for shade breaks in the nearby covered spots and keep water on hand. The satellite shadow view shows how any surrounding structures shade the plaza for the hour you are planning.
Come to Mallory Square for the evening, when the western sun is low, the heat has broken, and the sunset gathering fills the waterfront. If you visit earlier, take the morning while it is cool, use the sea breeze at the water's edge through the day, and protect your skin against the strong Key West sun rather than counting on shade that is not there. The trade for an open Gulf-front plaza is exposure, and the reward is that breeze and that sunset.