When to paint a house exterior in Butte-Silver Bow, MT
When to paint in Butte-Silver Bow, MT
Exterior painting here is a gamble in any month. The painting window is not reliable in any month, with 0 good months a year. The best month is August, at about 2 painting days.
If you cannot avoid the thin months, ask the painter for a low-temperature latex and watch the forecast for a dry run of 4 days before you commit. No month here reliably has the dry back-to-back days deck stain needs, so consider a solid stain or a sealer you can apply in shorter breaks.
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Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 7° / 34°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 9° / 36°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 17° / 46°F |
| April | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 24° / 54°F |
| May | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 33° / 63°F |
| June | 1 | under 1 | 14 | 41° / 75°F |
| July | 1 | 1 | 19 | 45° / 85°F |
| August | 2 | 2 | 20 | 43° / 83°F |
| September | 1 | 1 | 12 | 36° / 73°F |
| October | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 27° / 58°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 16° / 44°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 10° / 35°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 70 days a year here.
Towns near Butte-Silver Bow compared
4 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Helena (26 a year, 57 miles northeast). 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.
| Place | From Butte-Silver Bow | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helena, MT | 57 mi northeast | 26 | June to August | Helena Regional Airport |
| Belgrade, MT | 72 mi east | 6 | none reliable | Gallatin Field Airport |
| Bozeman, MT | 79 mi east | 6 | none reliable | Gallatin Field Airport |
| Missoula, MT | 94 mi northwest | 11 | none reliable | Missoula International Airport |
| Great Falls, MT | 128 mi northeast | 15 | none reliable | Great Falls International Air |
| Rexburg, ID | 149 mi south | 20 | July | Rexburg-Madison County Airport |
How Butte-Silver Bow ranks in MT
Of 8 MT places with 10,000 people or more, Butte-Silver Bow (population 35,480, 5th largest) ranks 8th for painting days, 5 days below the state median of 10. The longest season in the state is Billings, 38 days, 198 miles east. No place in MT has a shorter one. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 70 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Bert Mooney Airport (9 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.