Places to avoid in November

In November, 228 well-known destinations sit inside a hazard season: hurricane season in 61 (Outer Banks, Roatán, San Andrés and 58 more), monsoon in 46 (Kakadu, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and 43 more), cyclone season in 22 (Kakadu, Chennai, Trincomalee and 19 more) and flood season in 27 (Hội An, Hue, Cinque Terre and 24 more). By the numbers, of 1,387 destinations, 106 feel like 35 °C or more in the afternoon, 328 have 18 or more rainy days, 37 have poor air and 34 sit well below freezing. 18 well-known places are at peak crowds and 2 are partly closed for the season.

Not a forecast: these are the seasons in which the risk exists, and the climate normals for the month. Most weeks pass quietly; the numbers say how often they do not.

Hazard seasons on in November

Curated, sourced windows — hurricane, typhoon and cyclone seasons, the monsoon, smoke, floods, smog. Well-known places first, the month's lowest scores at the top.

Hurricane season on

98 places

Statistically quiet most weeks, occasionally catastrophic.

  1. Outer Banks 🇺🇸 United StatesHurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The Atlantic season runs June to November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October. · instead September62
  2. Roatán 🇭🇳 HondurasHurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead May63
  3. San Andrés 🇨🇴 ColombiaHurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead March63
  4. Virginia Beach 🇺🇸 United StatesHurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The Atlantic season runs June to November, but this coast usually gets the outer edge rather than the eye. · instead September63
  5. Hilo 🇺🇸 United StatesHurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead January64
  6. San Juan 🇵🇷 Puerto RicoHurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — Maria came ashore in September 2017 and the island still plans around that month. · instead January64

…and 92 more, 55 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Monsoon on

62 places

The wet season proper — heavy, daily, and the reason prices fall.

  1. Kakadu 🇦🇺 AustraliaMonsoon, 1 Nov – 31 May (usually) · instead July33
  2. Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾 MalaysiaMonsoon, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February44
  3. Colombo 🇱🇰 Sri LankaMonsoon, 1 Oct – 20 Nov (usually) · instead February45
  4. Singapore 🇸🇬 SingaporeMonsoon, 1 Nov – 31 Jan (usually) · instead February46
  5. Yogyakarta 🇮🇩 IndonesiaMonsoon, 1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually) — Long afternoon storms roll off Merapi and the Prambanan open-air stage moves indoors for the season. · instead July46
  6. Chennai 🇮🇳 IndiaMonsoon, 15 Oct – 31 Dec (usually) · instead February48

…and 56 more, 40 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Cyclone season on

59 places

The southern-hemisphere storm season.

  1. Kakadu 🇦🇺 AustraliaCyclone season, 1 Nov – 30 Apr — Systems crossing the Top End coast bring days of torrential rain and wind rather than a direct blow. · instead July33
  2. Chennai 🇮🇳 IndiaCyclone season, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) — A system or two a season comes close enough to shut the airport for a day and put the fishing fleet ashore. · instead February48
  3. Trincomalee 🇱🇰 Sri LankaCyclone season, 1 Nov – 31 Dec (usually) · instead March59
  4. Pondicherry 🇮🇳 IndiaCyclone season, 15 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February62
  5. Papeete 🇵🇫 French PolynesiaCyclone season, 1 Nov – 30 Apr — The wet season doubles as the cyclone window. · instead August71
  6. Port Blair 🇮🇳 IndiaCyclone season, 15 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead March74

…and 53 more, 16 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Flood season on

34 places

The river comes into the streets most years.

  1. Hội An 🇻🇳 VietnamFlood season, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) — The Thu Bon comes up into the lanes nearest the water most years, usually for one to three days at a time. · instead February48
  2. Hue 🇻🇳 VietnamFlood season, 25 Sep – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February50
  3. Cinque Terre 🇮🇹 ItalyFlood season, 1 Oct – 30 Nov (usually) — Autumn brings the downpours that flattened Vernazza and Monterosso in 2011. · instead July56
  4. Hamburg 🇩🇪 GermanyFlood season, 15 Sep – 31 Mar — The city counts its storm tide season from mid-September to the end of March. · instead August57
  5. Ho Chi Minh City 🇻🇳 VietnamFlood season, 15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February58
  6. York 🇬🇧 United KingdomFlood season, 1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually) · instead August59

…and 28 more, 21 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Winter smog on

34 places

Coal smoke and a valley inversion; the air, not the cold, is the problem.

  1. Warsaw 🇵🇱 PolandWinter smog, 1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) · instead June55
  2. Kraków 🇵🇱 PolandWinter smog, 1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) · instead June57
  3. Milan 🇮🇹 ItalyWinter smog, 15 Nov – 28 Feb (usually) · instead September62
  4. Zakopane 🇵🇱 PolandWinter smog, 15 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) · instead January63
  5. Belgrade 🇷🇸 SerbiaWinter smog, 1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) · instead May65
  6. Turin 🇮🇹 ItalyWinter smog, 1 Oct – 31 Mar — The city sits in a bowl with the Alps on three sides, and winter inversions trap particulates for days. · instead September65

…and 28 more, 7 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Typhoon season on

22 places

A system a summer stops the trains for a day; it rarely ruins a week.

  1. Hội An 🇻🇳 VietnamTyphoon season, 1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually) — Central Vietnam takes the landfalls. · instead February48
  2. Hue 🇻🇳 VietnamTyphoon season, 1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually) · instead February50
  3. Cebu City 🇵🇭 PhilippinesTyphoon season, 1 Jun – 20 Dec (usually) — The central Visayas are in the track and the December storms have done the most damage here in recent memory. · instead February52
  4. Da Nang 🇻🇳 VietnamTyphoon season, 1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually) — The central coast takes the storms that cross from the Philippines, usually one or two that matter. · instead March54
  5. Nha Trang 🇻🇳 VietnamTyphoon season, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead March60
  6. Boracay 🇵🇭 PhilippinesTyphoon season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov (usually) — Aklan sits inside the storm track. · instead April63

…and 16 more, 7 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Smoke season on

19 places

Burning fields or forests; the air, not the weather, is the problem.

  1. Ulaanbaatar 🇲🇳 MongoliaSmoke season, 1 Nov – 31 Mar · instead June40
  2. Almaty 🇰🇿 KazakhstanSmoke season, 15 Nov – 1 Mar (usually) — Coal heating and a valley inversion pin the smoke over the city for weeks at a time once the cold sets in. · instead September56
  3. Big Sur 🇺🇸 United StatesSmoke season, 15 Jul – 1 Nov (usually) · instead August71
  4. Santa Barbara 🇺🇸 United StatesSmoke season, 15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually) · instead August77
  5. San Diego 🇺🇸 United StatesSmoke season, 15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually) · instead August79
  6. Kangaroo Island 🇦🇺 AustraliaSmoke season, 15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually) — National parks here close on catastrophic fire danger days, which lands squarely in the summer holidays. · instead February82

…and 13 more, 10 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Storm season on

19 places

Tornadoes, derechos, hail — the afternoons to watch the sky.

  1. Svolvær 🇳🇴 NorwayStorm season, 15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually) · instead July19
  2. Ålesund 🇳🇴 NorwayStorm season, 15 Oct – 28 Feb (usually) · instead July38
  3. Dingle 🇮🇪 IrelandStorm season, 15 Oct – 28 Feb (usually) — Named lows come in off the ocean from mid-autumn and the peninsula takes them first. · instead June44
  4. Tórshavn Faroe IslandsStorm season, 1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually) · instead July52
  5. La Rochelle 🇫🇷 FranceStorm season, 1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually) · instead August53
  6. Seattle 🇺🇸 United StatesStorm season, 1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually) · instead July57

…and 13 more, 6 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Extreme heat on

8 places

The weeks the city lives indoors.

  1. Kakadu 🇦🇺 AustraliaExtreme heat, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead July33
  2. Etosha National Park 🇳🇦 NamibiaExtreme heat, 1 Oct – 10 Dec (usually) — October and November are the hard end of the dry season, when the heat builds until the rains break it. · instead June51
  3. Victoria Falls 🇿🇼 ZimbabweExtreme heat, 20 Sep – 10 Nov (usually) — The local name for the weeks before the rains break, when the valley bakes and the bush is grey. · instead June59
  4. Uluru 🇦🇺 AustraliaExtreme heat, 1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually) · instead July60
  5. Sossusvlei 🇳🇦 NamibiaExtreme heat, 1 Oct – 31 Dec (usually) · instead July63
  6. Adelaide 🇦🇺 AustraliaExtreme heat, 15 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) · instead November94

…and 2 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Extreme cold on

7 places

The weeks the city stops going outside — dzud, ice storms, minus thirty.

  1. Cleveland 🇺🇸 United StatesExtreme cold, 15 Nov – 15 Mar · instead September65
  2. Cradle Mountain 🇦🇺 AustraliaExtreme cold, 1 Jan – 31 Dec — Snow falls on this plateau in every month of the year and the summit track can be a whiteout in January. · instead January75
  3. Yakutsk 🇷🇺 RussiaExtreme cold, 20 Nov – 5 Mar (usually) · instead June31
  4. Murmansk 🇷🇺 RussiaExtreme cold, 15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually) · instead July35
  5. Astana 🇰🇿 KazakhstanExtreme cold, 1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually) · instead August39
  6. Chita 🇷🇺 RussiaExtreme cold, 1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) — Winters here are severely continental: January averages around -24. · instead June39

…and 1 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Algae & red tide on

5 places

Blooms that close beaches and clear the water of fish for a few weeks; not the Caribbean weed.

  1. Pensacola 🇺🇸 United StatesAlgae & red tide, 1 Aug – 15 Dec (usually) · instead May77
  2. Clearwater 🇺🇸 United StatesAlgae & red tide, 1 Aug – 28 Feb (usually) · instead April83
  3. Sarasota 🇺🇸 United StatesAlgae & red tide, 1 Sep – 1 Mar (usually) · instead March86
  4. Naples, Florida 🇺🇸 United StatesAlgae & red tide, 1 Sep – 28 Feb (usually) — Blooms of Karenia brevis drift onto this coast most often between autumn and late winter. · instead April88
  5. Tampa 🇺🇸 United StatesAlgae & red tide, 1 Sep – 28 Feb (usually) · instead February82

Avalanche season on

4 places

Backcountry and passes on forecast; the weeks the road closes after a dump.

  1. Rocky Mountain National Park 🇺🇸 United StatesAvalanche season, 15 Oct – 15 Jun (usually) — From mid-autumn into early summer steep snow slopes above popular trails such as Emerald Lake can slide. · instead August60
  2. Mestia 🇬🇪 GeorgiaAvalanche season, 15 Nov – 15 May (usually) · instead September68
  3. Vail 🇺🇸 United StatesAvalanche season, 15 Nov – 31 Mar (usually) · instead January76
  4. Te Anau 🇳🇿 New ZealandAvalanche season, 1 May – 30 Nov (usually) · instead January81

Dust season on

3 places

Spring dust and sandstorms; sensitive lungs stay in.

  1. N'Djamena 🇹🇩 ChadDust season, 25 Nov – 10 Mar (usually) — Sahelian dust on a north-easterly, cold mornings and a sky the colour of weak tea. · instead January64
  2. Nouakchott 🇲🇷 MauritaniaDust season, 25 Nov – 15 Apr (usually) · instead January80
  3. Praia 🇨🇻 Cabo VerdeDust season, 15 Nov – 15 Mar (usually) — Saharan dust crosses the archipelago in the cool months and turns the sky milky for days at a time. · instead June93

Landslide season on

2 places

The hill roads slip and shut for days; getting there, not being there, is the problem.

  1. Cameron Highlands 🇲🇾 MalaysiaLandslide season, 1 Oct – 20 Dec (usually) · instead February61
  2. Bucaramanga 🇨🇴 ColombiaLandslide season, 1 Oct – 30 Nov (usually) · instead February56

Rip currents & big surf on

2 places

Red flags for weeks at a time; the calm-looking water is the one that pulls people out.

  1. Vík 🇮🇸 IcelandRip currents & big surf, 15 Sep – 30 Apr (usually) — The black beach kills people. · instead July23
  2. Palomino 🇨🇴 ColombiaRip currents & big surf, 1 Jan – 31 Dec · instead January59

Out of range by the numbers

Every destination whose November normals cross a line the comfort score will not forgive: 18 or more rainy days, afternoons that feel like 35 °C, air in the poor band, or well below freezing. Worst first.

Too wet by the numbers

328 places

Eighteen or more rainy days, or a soaked month by volume — the real rainy season, not afternoon showers.

  1. Jacó 🇨🇷 Costa Rica30 rainy days, 623 mm · instead February61
  2. Aguas Calientes 🇵🇪 Peru30 rainy days, 237 mm · instead July74
  3. Boquete 🇵🇦 Panama30 rainy days, 557 mm · instead February61
  4. Lake Toba 🇮🇩 Indonesia29 rainy days, 378 mm · instead July56
  5. Cameron Highlands 🇲🇾 Malaysia29 rainy days, 362 mm · instead February61
  6. Ollantaytambo 🇵🇪 Peru29 rainy days, 206 mm · instead July80
  7. Penang 🇲🇾 Malaysia29 rainy days, 410 mm · instead February57
  8. Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾 Malaysia29 rainy days, 400 mm · instead February44

…and 320 more, 146 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Too hot by the numbers

106 places

Afternoons that feel like 35 °C or more, or heat the humidity turns sticky. A dry, sunny month cannot average this away.

  1. Kakadu 🇦🇺 Australia42°C afternoons · instead July33
  2. Acapulco 🇲🇽 Mexico39°C afternoons · instead April84
  3. Bangkok 🇹🇭 Thailand38°C afternoons · instead December65
  4. Mumbai 🇮🇳 India38°C afternoons · instead January71
  5. Yangon 🇲🇲 Myanmar38°C afternoons · instead January69
  6. Zihuatanejo 🇲🇽 Mexico38°C afternoons · instead April86
  7. Chiang Mai 🇹🇭 Thailand37°C afternoons · instead January74
  8. Goa 🇮🇳 India37°C afternoons · instead January83

…and 98 more, 23 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Too cold by the numbers

34 places

Afternoons that feel like −5 °C or below. Fine for a ski trip; not for walking a city.

  1. Churchill 🇨🇦 Canada-13°C afternoons · instead July38
  2. Ulaanbaatar 🇲🇳 Mongolia-10°C afternoons · instead June40
  3. Ilulissat 🇬🇱 Greenland-9°C afternoons · instead July34
  4. Levi 🇫🇮 Finland-8°C afternoons · instead March80
  5. Rovaniemi 🇫🇮 Finland-6°C afternoons · instead July35
  6. Ruka 🇫🇮 Finland-6°C afternoons · instead March71
  7. Anchorage 🇺🇸 United States-5°C afternoons · instead July36
  8. Lake Louise 🇨🇦 Canada-5°C afternoons · instead November93

…and 26 more, 1 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Bad air by the numbers

37 places

A monthly mean air-quality index in the poor or unhealthy bands.

  1. Riyadh 🇸🇦 Saudi ArabiaAQI 437, unhealthy air · instead February81
  2. Agra 🇮🇳 IndiaAQI 178, unhealthy air · instead February88
  3. Delhi 🇮🇳 IndiaAQI 176, unhealthy air · instead February84
  4. Kolkata 🇮🇳 IndiaAQI 167, unhealthy air · instead January76
  5. Beijing 🇨🇳 ChinaAQI 166, unhealthy air · instead April67
  6. Varanasi 🇮🇳 IndiaAQI 165, unhealthy air · instead December82
  7. Chengdu 🇨🇳 ChinaAQI 148, poor air · instead April78
  8. Jaipur 🇮🇳 IndiaAQI 139, poor air · instead February83

…and 29 more, 10 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Peak crowds

18 places

The editor's peak month for the place: full, expensive, and booked well ahead.

  1. Mexico City 🇲🇽 MexicoPeak crowds — Mexico City Grand Prix · instead November93
  2. Kathmandu 🇳🇵 NepalPeak crowds — Autumn trekking season · instead November92
  3. Oaxaca 🇲🇽 MexicoPeak crowds — Day of the Dead · instead November91
  4. Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 ArgentinaPeak crowds — the editor's peak month · instead October88
  5. Cairo 🇪🇬 EgyptPeak crowds — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it · instead March88
  6. Sydney 🇦🇺 AustraliaPeak crowds — Sculpture by the Sea · instead September87
  7. Cancún 🇲🇽 MexicoPeak crowds — Dry season · instead March86
  8. Miami 🇺🇸 United StatesPeak crowds — Dry season · instead April85

…and 10 more, 10 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own November verdict.

Closed for the season

2 places

Hotels, lifts, ferries or the sights themselves shut for the month.

  1. Dubrovnik 🇭🇷 Croatiasome of the town shuts for the month · instead July54
  2. Santorini 🇬🇷 Greecesome of the town shuts for the month · instead September78