When to paint a house exterior in Great Falls, MT
When to paint in Great Falls, 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 4 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 | 2 | 16° / 39°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 13° / 36°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 4 | 21° / 49°F |
| April | under 1 | under 1 | 6 | 29° / 58°F |
| May | 1 | under 1 | 13 | 38° / 68°F |
| June | 2 | 1 | 17 | 46° / 79°F |
| July | 4 | 3 | 12 | 51° / 89°F |
| August | 4 | 2 | 13 | 50° / 88°F |
| September | 3 | 3 | 18 | 43° / 76°F |
| October | 1 | 1 | 11 | 32° / 61°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 24° / 48°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 17° / 39°F |
Deck stain does best in September. Low-temperature paint adds about 88 days a year here.
Towns near Great Falls compared
1 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Helena (26 a year, 71 miles southwest); 5 get fewer, down to 5 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.
| Place | From Great Falls | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helena, MT | 71 mi southwest | 26 | June to August | Helena Regional Airport |
| Belgrade, MT | 119 mi south | 6 | none reliable | Gallatin Field Airport |
| Bozeman, MT | 126 mi south | 6 | none reliable | Gallatin Field Airport |
| Butte-Silver Bow, MT | 128 mi southwest | 5 | none reliable | Bert Mooney Airport |
| Missoula, MT | 135 mi west | 11 | none reliable | Missoula International Airport |
| Kalispell, MT | 149 mi west | 10 | none reliable | Glacier Park International Airport |
How Great Falls ranks in MT
Of 8 MT places with 10,000 people or more, Great Falls (population 60,013, 3rd largest) ranks 3rd for painting days, 5 days above the state median of 10. The longest season in the state is Billings, 38 days, 176 miles southeast. The shortest is Butte-Silver Bow at 5. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 88 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Great Falls International Air (4.3 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.