Weather in Glasgow in November

The month to avoid. November is the month most people should skip in Glasgow. Highs sit at 8.5 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

November ranks 9 of 12 in Glasgow: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 20 of the month's 30 days, 4 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 8.5 °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 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 14.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -4.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 32 mm — roughly 24% 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 238 mm against 57 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 134 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 13.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 94%, which at 8.5 °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: 3.6 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 2.3 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

8.3 hours of daylight, losing 1.9 hours across the month. That is between Glasgow's extremes of 17.5 and 7 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 16.1 °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 Glasgow versus nearby

If Glasgow is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Edinburgh is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain. Manchester is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: November is a compromise. July is 31 points better and is what Glasgow 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 Glasgow

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