Weather in San Jose in November

Prime time. November is about as good as San Jose gets. Highs average 20.1 °C, lows 8.1 °C, and rain falls on 6 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

November ranks 5 of 12 in San Jose: past the worst of the year but short of May, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain falls on only 6 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. 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. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 33.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -1.7 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 54 mm — roughly 102% of the month's rain in one day.

November is moderately variable: 9 mm in the driest year against 118 mm in the wettest, around an average of 53 mm. Roughly two Novembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 5.9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 73%.

How November sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 6.5 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 4.9 °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 San Jose's year — 10.2 hours of daylight against 14.7 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 14.3 °C in November — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 15.4 °C in September and bottoms out at 12.3 °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

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

November in San Jose versus nearby

If San Jose is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. San Francisco is the weaker option in November — 2.3 °C cooler, 1 day more rain. Napa is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: November works, with May the better month by 7 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in San Jose

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