Weather in New York City in November

Shoulder season. November is shoulder season in New York City — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. Highs sit at 11.9 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

November ranks 7 of 12 in New York City: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 8 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 11.9 °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 — 5.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 20.3 °C and the coldest night fell to -4.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 67 mm — roughly 66% of the month's rain in one day.

November is moderately variable: 21 mm in the driest year against 323 mm in the wettest, around an average of 101 mm. Roughly two Novembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 17 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 79%, which at 11.9 °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: 5.7 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 5 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

10 hours of daylight, losing 1 hours across the month. That is between New York City's extremes of 15.1 and 9.3 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 14.6 °C in November — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 24.4 °C in August and bottoms out at 6.8 °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 New York City versus nearby

If New York City is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Philadelphia is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Boston is the weaker option in November — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: November is a compromise. September is 24 points better and is what New York City 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 New York City

See all twelve months in New York City, or where else to go in November.