Weather in Portland in November

A hard month. November asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 19 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 9 of 12 in Portland: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

This is wet-season rain: 19 wet days and 8 genuinely heavy ones, which in this climate means concentrated downpours rather than all-day grey. The pattern is usually a clear morning and a loud afternoon, so front-load the day and stop fighting the 3pm hour. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 11.6 °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: 3 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 20.9 °C and the coldest night fell to -7.8 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 67 mm — roughly 31% 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 524 mm against 47 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 217 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 2.9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 89%, which at 11.6 °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: 6.6 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 3.9 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain has already shifted: 5 days more than October had.

Daylight in November

9.6 hours of daylight, losing 1.2 hours across the month. That is between Portland's extremes of 15.7 and 8.7 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 27.7 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

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 Portland versus nearby

If Portland is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Eugene is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Seattle is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: November is a compromise. July is 51 points better and is what Portland 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 Portland

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