When to paint a house exterior in Missoula, MT
When to paint in Missoula, 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 July, 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.
- under 1Jan
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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 | 16° / 34°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 18° / 39°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 25° / 51°F |
| April | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 31° / 60°F |
| May | under 1 | under 1 | 14 | 40° / 71°F |
| June | 3 | 2 | 15 | 46° / 80°F |
| July | 4 | 3 | 10 | 51° / 91°F |
| August | 3 | 2 | 12 | 50° / 89°F |
| September | 1 | 1 | 19 | 42° / 77°F |
| October | under 1 | under 1 | 8 | 32° / 60°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 24° / 44°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 18° / 35°F |
Deck stain does best in July. Low-temperature paint adds about 71 days a year here.
Towns near Missoula compared
4 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Coeur d'Alene (45 a year, 142 miles northwest); 1 gets 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 Missoula | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalispell, MT | 94 mi north | 10 | none reliable | Glacier Park International Airport |
| Butte-Silver Bow, MT | 94 mi southeast | 5 | none reliable | Bert Mooney Airport |
| Helena, MT | 97 mi east | 26 | June to August | Helena Regional Airport |
| Great Falls, MT | 135 mi east | 15 | none reliable | Great Falls International Air |
| Moscow, ID | 141 mi west | 30 | June to August | Pullman/Moscow Rgnl Airport |
| Coeur d'Alene, ID | 142 mi northwest | 45 | June to September | Coeur D'Alene Air Term Airport |
How Missoula ranks in MT
Of 8 MT places with 10,000 people or more, Missoula (population 78,204, 2nd largest) ranks 4th for painting days, 1 day above the state median of 10. The longest season in the state is Billings, 38 days, 272 miles east. The shortest is Butte-Silver Bow at 5. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 71 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Missoula International Airport (4.5 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.