When to paint a house exterior in Rifle, CO
When to paint in Rifle, CO
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 September, at about 3 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
- under 1Feb
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- under 1Apr
- 1May
- 2Jun
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- 3Aug
- 3Sep
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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 | 14° / 38°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 17° / 45°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 26° / 57°F |
| April | under 1 | under 1 | 7 | 32° / 67°F |
| May | 1 | 1 | 17 | 39° / 76°F |
| June | 2 | 2 | 10 | 49° / 90°F |
| July | 1 | under 1 | 2 | 56° / 94°F |
| August | 3 | 1 | 5 | 54° / 92°F |
| September | 3 | 2 | 18 | 46° / 85°F |
| October | 1 | under 1 | 10 | 33° / 69°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 23° / 54°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 15° / 40°F |
Deck stain does best in June. Low-temperature paint adds about 60 days a year here.
Towns near Rifle compared
4 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Montrose (33 a year, 74 miles south). 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. Glenwood Springs is read from the same station as Rifle, so its numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Rifle | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenwood Springs, CO | 23 mi east | 12 | none reliable | same station |
| Grand Junction, CO | 53 mi southwest | 29 | May | Grand Junction Regional Airport |
| Fruita, CO | 58 mi southwest | 29 | May | Grand Junction Regional Airport |
| Montrose, CO | 74 mi south | 33 | August to September | Montrose Regional Airport |
| Steamboat Springs, CO | 82 mi northeast | 12 | none reliable | Steamboat Springs/Bob Adams F |
| Vernal, UT | 113 mi northwest | 21 | none reliable | Vernal Airport |
How Rifle ranks in CO
Of 53 CO places with 10,000 people or more, Rifle (population 10,663, 52nd largest) ranks 52nd for painting days, 24 days below the state median of 36. The longest season in the state is Cañon City, 71 days, 156 miles southeast. The shortest is Glenwood Springs at 12. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 60 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Garfield County Regional Airport (2.8 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.