When to paint a house exterior in Box Elder, SD
When to paint in Box Elder, SD
A short season: book early and expect weather delays. The painting window is June to September, and even that is thin, with 0 good months a year. The best month is August, at about 9 painting days. Book a painter by April.
If you want the house done in June to September, call for quotes in April or earlier; a job pushed past September is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep.
- under 1Jan
- under 1Feb
- under 1Mar
- under 1Apr
- 2May
- 8Jun
- 9Jul
- 9Aug
- 7Sep
- 1Oct
- under 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 15° / 40°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 14° / 41°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 24° / 52°F |
| April | under 1 | under 1 | 6 | 30° / 60°F |
| May | 2 | 1 | 12 | 42° / 70°F |
| June | 8 | 6 | 13 | 54° / 84°F |
| July | 9 | 5 | 9 | 60° / 90°F |
| August | 9 | 6 | 11 | 57° / 89°F |
| September | 7 | 5 | 16 | 50° / 82°F |
| October | 1 | 1 | 12 | 35° / 65°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 4 | 25° / 53°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 16° / 42°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 51 days a year here.
Towns near Box Elder compared
1 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Pierre (48 a year, 138 miles east); 3 get fewer, down to 12 a year. A gap like that between towns is usually elevation, a coast or a lake, which is why a painter from a few towns over can be on a different schedule. Rapid City, Spearfish are read from the same station as Box Elder, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Box Elder | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid City, SD | 7 mi west | 37 | June to September | same station |
| Spearfish, SD | 45 mi northwest | 37 | June to September | same station |
| Gillette, WY | 120 mi west | 23 | July | Gillette-Campbell County. Airport |
| Pierre, SD | 138 mi east | 48 | May to September | Pierre Regional Airport |
| Scottsbluff, NE | 158 mi south | 19 | none reliable | Western Ne Regional/Heilig Fi |
| Casper, WY | 185 mi southwest | 12 | none reliable | Natrona County International |
How Box Elder ranks in SD
Of 14 SD places with 10,000 people or more, Box Elder (population 13,887, 9th largest) ranks 13th for painting days, 22 days below the state median of 58. The longest season in the state is Yankton, 72 days, 297 miles east. The shortest is Spearfish at 37. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 51 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Ellsworth Air Force Base (2.9 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.