Weather in Sydney in November

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, November is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 7.8 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

November ranks 7 of 12 in Sydney: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 15 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 7.8 °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: 6 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 5 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 17.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -8.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 37 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 216 mm against 59 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 118 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 23.2 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 84%, which at 7.8 °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: 5.4 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 5.1 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

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

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 8.2 °C in November — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 18.4 °C in August and bottoms out at -0.2 °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

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

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

November in Sydney versus nearby

If Sydney is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Halifax is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain. Moncton is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain.

So: November is a compromise. July is 45 points better and is what Sydney 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 Sydney

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