Weather in Edmonton in November

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, November is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 0.1 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

November ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of Edmonton's year. August is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 56 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 7 days, 0 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 0.1 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 28 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 16.8 °C and the coldest night fell to -33.4 °C.

November is moderately variable: 6 mm in the driest year against 46 mm in the wettest, around an average of 26 mm. Roughly two Novembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 10.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 85%, which at 0.1 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How November sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 9.3 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 5.9 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

8.7 hours of daylight, losing 1.7 hours across the month. That is between Edmonton's extremes of 17 and 7.5 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 37.6 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

November in Edmonton versus nearby

If Edmonton is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Calgary is close enough to be a coin toss — 3.4 °C warmer, 1 day less rain. Banff is the weaker option in November — within a degree on temperature, 9 days more rain.

So: November is a compromise. August is 53 points better and is what Edmonton is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Edmonton

See all twelve months in Edmonton, or where else to go in November.