Weather in Palermo in November

A good month. November is a solid month to be in Palermo. Highs average 19.9 °C, lows 14.5 °C, and rain falls on 12 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

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

Rain on 12 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. 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; the day barely swings — 5.4 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 25.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 8.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 52 mm — roughly 60% 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 175 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 87 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 13 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How November sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 4.9 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 4 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

November sits at the dark end of Palermo's year — 10.1 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 19.7 °C in November — swimmable, but it takes a moment to commit. The sea peaks at 27.2 °C in August and bottoms out at 14.2 °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 Palermo versus nearby

If Palermo is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Catania is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Taormina is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: November works, with May the better month by 16 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Palermo

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