Weather in Reykjavík in November

The month to avoid. November is the month most people should skip in Reykjavík. Highs sit at 3.7 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

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

Rain on 20 of the month's 30 days, 5 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 3.7 °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: 12 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 3.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 10.1 °C and the coldest night fell to -9.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 45 mm — roughly 30% 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 237 mm against 60 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 149 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 14.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 91%, which at 3.7 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How November sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 6.4 °C in October, 3.7 here, 2.4 in December. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in November

6.6 hours of daylight, losing 3 hours across the month. That is between Reykjavík's extremes of 21 and 4.3 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 8.4 °C in November — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 12 °C in August and bottoms out at 7.3 °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

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 Reykjavík versus nearby

If Reykjavík is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Akureyri is the weaker option in November — 6.6 °C cooler, 1 day more rain. Glasgow is a better bet in November — 4.8 °C warmer, the same number of rain days.

So: November is a compromise. July is 36 points better and is what Reykjavík 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 Reykjavík

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