When to paint a house exterior in Oak Harbor, WA
When to paint in Oak Harbor, WA
A short season: book early and expect weather delays. The painting window is July to August, with 2 good months a year. The best month is July, at about 24 painting days. Book a painter by May.
If you want the house done in July to August, call for quotes in May or earlier; a job pushed past August 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
- 1Apr
- 5May
- 11Jun
- 24Jul
- 20Aug
- 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 | 5 | 37° / 51°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 36° / 50°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 8 | 38° / 55°F |
| April | 1 | 1 | 13 | 42° / 58°F |
| May | 5 | 2 | 18 | 47° / 63°F |
| June | 11 | 7 | 17 | 50° / 67°F |
| July | 24 | 21 | 26 | 53° / 70°F |
| August | 20 | 15 | 23 | 53° / 71°F |
| September | 7 | 5 | 16 | 50° / 68°F |
| October | 1 | under 1 | 9 | 44° / 61°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 39° / 54°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 4 | 36° / 49°F |
Deck stain does best in July. Low-temperature paint adds about 78 days a year here.
Towns near Oak Harbor compared
3 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Mount Vernon (91 a year, 17 miles northeast); 2 get fewer, down to 57 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. Port Townsend is read from the same station as Oak Harbor, so its numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Oak Harbor | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anacortes, WA | 13 mi north | 64 | July to August | Padilla Bay Reserve |
| Port Townsend, WA | 14 mi southwest | 70 | July to August | same station |
| Mount Vernon, WA | 17 mi northeast | 91 | June to September | Skagit Regional Airport |
| Burlington, WA | 18 mi northeast | 91 | June to September | Skagit Regional Airport |
| Sedro-Woolley, WA | 24 mi northeast | 91 | June to September | Skagit Regional Airport |
| Arlington, WA | 24 mi east | 57 | July to August | Arlington Municipal Airport |
How Oak Harbor ranks in WA
Of 91 WA places with 10,000 people or more, Oak Harbor (population 24,163, 49th largest) ranks 48th for painting days, 1 day below the state median of 71. The longest season in the state is Seattle, 108 days, 48 miles south. The shortest is Sunnyside at 27. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 78 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station (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+.