Weather in Nairobi in November

A good month. November works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. You should expect rain on 21 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Nairobi's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 30 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one. Worth keeping in perspective: November is the weakest month of Nairobi's year and it is still a perfectly good one. The downside here is small.

Rain on 21 of the month's 30 days, 1 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. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average November reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 30.8 °C and the coldest night fell to 12.2 °C.

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 187 mm against 36 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 81 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 12.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 73%.

How November sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 28.6 °C in October, 26.8 here, 26.5 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

Nairobi sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.2 hours in November, against a range of just 0.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 16.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 1684 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets.

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 Nairobi versus nearby

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

So: November is a compromise. July is 29 points better and is what Nairobi 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 Nairobi

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