Weather in Jaffna in November

Shoulder season. November sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. You should expect rain on 23 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of Jaffna's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 34 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 23 of the month's 30 days, 9 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. Pack for 28.3 °C days and 26.4 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 1.9 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 30.8 °C and the coldest night fell to 24.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 112 mm — roughly 38% 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 533 mm against 109 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 293 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 16 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 81%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How November sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 29.4 °C in October, 28.3 here, 27.5 in December. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: December brings 6 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in November

Jaffna sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.7 hours in November, against a range of just 1.1 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 28.6 °C in November — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 30.1 °C in April and bottoms out at 26.9 °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

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 Jaffna versus nearby

If Jaffna is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Trincomalee is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain. Madurai is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain.

So: November is a compromise. January is 30 points better and is what Jaffna 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 Jaffna

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