Kamakura weather in January

A resident's description of a typical January day is the most useful thing on the thread: "the day would start very cold around 0°C, but the continuing sunshine could warm the air up to 10°C" — and if it's cloudy instead, "the temperature would stay around 5°C the whole day." So the sun does the work. What surprises people expecting a grey northern winter is how clear it is: dry air, "no snow and no rain, and even no clouds," completely blue skies. Snow is the exception, not the rule — "it usually won't snow apart from 1–2 exceptional days in January and February" — and rain "can happen, but not often." Wind is described as mild. Long sleeves, a sweater and a coat cover it. Our record agrees on the shape: 8.5°C days, 0.3°C nights, only 6.4 rain days and 7.6 hours of sun.

Forum posters describe November in the greater Tokyo/Kamakura area as typical fall, pre-winter weather, with light jackets or hoodies sufficient by day, though it turns properly chilly at night, warranting a good jacket and beanie. Posters cite average November temperatures around 9-15C, noting the region doesn't really turn cold until the last week of the month, with short sleeves still viable by day into the fourth week in some years. Posters consistently rate November as one of the best times to visit Kamakura, pairing reasonable temperatures with thinner crowds, and flag popular evening temple and nearby Enoshima light-up displays running from November through February. Posters generally rate November as comfortable and well-timed for a Kamakura visit, layering for the day-to-night temperature swing the main preparation needed.

May lands before Japan's rainy season, which the forum dates to about 7–10 June, so it avoids the worst — though the record still shows thirteen wet days, and regulars describe May as changeable: three days of sun, then a day or two of rain. Plan for everything from short sleeves to a rain parka. Days average 20°C. May and June are the months many posters prefer over cherry-blossom season, with the gardens and temples deep green and mossy. One timing note if hydrangeas are the draw — Meigetsu-in and the Kita-Kamakura temples peak in June and July, not May. Kamakura is about an hour from Tokyo on frequent JR trains.