How to pack for St. Louis in November

Mary Baum here, longtime St. Louis resident. This time of year we get a big flip of the switch from shorts weather to fallwinterspring. Yes, we have all three of those seasons, from November through March and often into April, just like anywhere else. But they run on a two- to three-week cycle.

So how do you pack for that?

In a word: Layers.

It’s going to be chilly outside, but only you know your internal thermostat indoors. So if you run hot, you’ll want to be able to go down to a tee. If you run cold, you might want a couple of each kind of layer.

My best friend is polar fleece. It’s lighter than wool and keeps you warm when wet, which is a bonus for going out in the rain or breaking a sweat in a warm workshop room. You could wind up doing both.

As it stands now, we’re looking at chilly, wet weather for Wednesday and Thursday next week, warming into the 50ºs for the weekend. Overnight lows will hover just above freezing.

Unless, of course, things change.

This is the radar for Missouri. My kids grew up checking it daily.

Weather comes up Interstate 44 from Joplin and travels about 55 miles an hour. If it’s not on that path, we can ignore it. Mostly.

Here’s a screen grab from that Weather.com page for Saturday, October 25.
Notice the flow, southeast to northwest? Weather comes up I-44.

Oh. One more thing:

Beware the upside-down day.

In this period of the switch flipping, you might wake up in the morning to find it’s 60 degrees out.

Do not be deceived! It will be 40 or colder by dinnertime. So take your polar-fleece coat for that.

Put simply: be prepared for almost anything.

3 Replies to “How to pack for St. Louis in November”

  1. Well that didn’t help a lot…lol… I was in WordCamp Houston last week and it was really hotter than what I expected it to be. Is St Louis similar in weather or can I expect it to be more of a Nashville thing?

    1. Definitely more Nashville than Houston! Houston is year round a way hotter climate than St. Louis.

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