Weather in Invercargill in November

A hard month. November is a hard month in Invercargill, and worth planning around. You should expect rain on 18 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 6 of 12 in Invercargill: past the worst of the year but short of February, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 18 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 14.1 °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: the day barely swings — 5.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 23.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 2.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 33 mm — roughly 29% 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 179 mm against 62 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 112 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 16.6 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 78%, which at 14.1 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How November sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 12.8 °C in October, 14.1 here, 16.1 in December. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in November

14.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.3 hours across the month. That is between Invercargill's extremes of 15.8 and 8.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 10.6 °C in November — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 12.7 °C in February and bottoms out at 9.9 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

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

November in Invercargill versus nearby

If Invercargill is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Papatowai is a better bet in November — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Te Anau is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: November works, with February the better month by 15 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Invercargill

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