Weather in Galway in November

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, November is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 9.9 °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 Galway's year. June is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 41 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 19 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 9.9 °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: the day barely swings — 4.8 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 16 °C and the coldest night fell to -2.7 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 66 mm — roughly 56% of the month's rain in one day.

November is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest November on record still delivered 239 mm against 51 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 118 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 12.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 94%, which at 9.9 °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: 3.7 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 2.1 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

8.7 hours of daylight, losing 1.6 hours across the month. That is between Galway's extremes of 16.9 and 7.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 17.1 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

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 Galway versus nearby

If Galway is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Cork is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Dublin is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: November is a compromise. June is 33 points better and is what Galway 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 Galway

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