Weather in Niigata in November

A hard month. November is a hard month in Niigata, and worth planning around. You should expect rain on 20 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 8 of 12 in Niigata: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 20 of the month's 30 days, 6 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 14.4 °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 — 3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 21.6 °C and the coldest night fell to 5.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 35 mm — roughly 21% 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 308 mm against 83 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 168 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 17.2 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 75%, which at 14.4 °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: 5.2 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 5.1 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain is the thing that moves: December brings 5 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in November

November sits at the dark end of Niigata's year — 10.2 hours of daylight against 14.8 at midsummer, losing 0.9 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 17.7 °C in November — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 26.2 °C in August and bottoms out at 9.8 °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 Niigata versus nearby

If Niigata is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Sendai is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.1 °C cooler, 1 day less rain. Utsunomiya is a better bet in November — within a degree on temperature, 13 days less rain.

So: November is a compromise. June is 30 points better and is what Niigata 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 Niigata

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