Why the deck-staining window is shorter than the painting window

Two dry days, not one

Paint sits on a primed surface. Stain soaks into bare or weathered wood, and wet wood will not take it, so a staining day here is a painting day that also follows a dry day. That one extra condition costs a lot: the median place gets 80% as many staining days as painting days. Of the 3,166 places with a painting window, 1,572 have a staining window that is shorter or missing, and 36 places have no month that reliably fits even a two-day deck job.

Large places where the gap is widest

Place	Painting days/yr	Staining days/yr	Painting window	Staining window
Anchorage, AK	14	5	July	none reliable
Colorado Springs, CO	41	25	June to September	August to September
Providence, RI	68	42	June to September	June to September
Denver, CO	36	24	June to September	September
Aurora, CO	36	24	June to September	September
Lincoln, NE	48	32	May to September	none reliable

Where rain comes often but in short spells, a single dry day is common and two in a row is not.

What to do about it

Plan the deck for your best staining month, which is on your place's page and is often not the same as the best painting month. Wash the deck at least two dry days before staining. In the 68 places with no reliable staining window, a solid-colour stain or a water-based sealer with a short dry-to-rain time is easier to fit into a break in the weather than a penetrating oil.