PaintDays

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.

  1. under 1Jan
  2. under 1Feb
  3. under 1Mar
  4. 1Apr
  5. 5May
  6. 11Jun
  7. 24Jul
  8. 20Aug
  9. 7Sep
  10. 1Oct
  11. under 1Nov
  12. under 1Dec

Month by month

MonthPainting daysStaining daysWith low-temp paintAvg low / high
Januaryunder 1under 1537° / 51°F
Februaryunder 1under 1336° / 50°F
Marchunder 1under 1838° / 55°F
April111342° / 58°F
May521847° / 63°F
June1171750° / 67°F
July24212653° / 70°F
August20152353° / 71°F
September751650° / 68°F
October1under 1944° / 61°F
Novemberunder 1under 1539° / 54°F
Decemberunder 1under 1436° / 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.

PlaceFrom Oak HarborPainting days a yearWindowStation
Anacortes, WA13 mi north64July to AugustPadilla Bay Reserve
Port Townsend, WA14 mi southwest70July to Augustsame station
Mount Vernon, WA17 mi northeast91June to SeptemberSkagit Regional Airport
Burlington, WA18 mi northeast91June to SeptemberSkagit Regional Airport
Sedro-Woolley, WA24 mi northeast91June to SeptemberSkagit Regional Airport
Arlington, WA24 mi east57July to AugustArlington 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+.