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

Rain on 21 of the month's 30 days, 12 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 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 — 4.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 16.8 °C and the coldest night fell to -17.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 82 mm — roughly 24% 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 663 mm against 135 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 348 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 3.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 91%, 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: 6.2 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 3.6 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

9.2 hours of daylight, losing 1.4 hours across the month. That is between Vancouver's extremes of 16.2 and 8.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 23.6 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

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 Vancouver versus nearby

If Vancouver is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Maple Ridge is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Nanaimo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: November is a compromise. July is 58 points better and is what Vancouver 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 Vancouver

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