When to paint a house exterior in Sonoma, CA
When to paint in Sonoma, CA
A normal season: plan the job, do not leave it late. The painting window is June to September, with 4 good months a year. The best month is August, at about 23 painting days. Book a painter by April.
If you want the house done in June to September, call for quotes in April or earlier; a job pushed past September is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.
- 2Jan
- under 1Feb
- 1Mar
- 1Apr
- 4May
- 14Jun
- 20Jul
- 23Aug
- 18Sep
- 6Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2 | 2 | 3 | 41° / 58°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 11 | 38° / 62°F |
| March | 1 | under 1 | 12 | 40° / 62°F |
| April | 1 | 1 | 20 | 42° / 66°F |
| May | 4 | 4 | 23 | 46° / 72°F |
| June | 14 | 14 | 27 | 50° / 78°F |
| July | 20 | 20 | 26 | 52° / 81°F |
| August | 23 | 23 | 27 | 53° / 82°F |
| September | 18 | 18 | 24 | 53° / 80°F |
| October | 6 | 5 | 19 | 47° / 76°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 12 | 40° / 65°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 4 | 40° / 57°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 118 days a year here.
Towns near Sonoma compared
3 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Napa (96 a year, 9 miles east). 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. Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Novato are read from the same station as Sonoma, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Sonoma | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napa, CA | 9 mi east | 96 | June to September | Napa County Airport |
| Petaluma, CA | 10 mi west | 90 | June to September | same station |
| American Canyon, CA | 13 mi southeast | 96 | June to September | Napa County Airport |
| Rohnert Park, CA | 14 mi west | 90 | June to September | same station |
| Novato, CA | 15 mi south | 90 | June to September | same station |
| Vallejo, CA | 17 mi southeast | 96 | June to September | Napa County Airport |
How Sonoma ranks in CA
Of 376 CA places with 10,000 people or more, Sonoma (population 10,606, 369th largest) ranks 248th for painting days, 38 days below the state median of 128. The longest season in the state is Santa Clarita, 269 days, 347 miles southeast. The shortest is Susanville at 4. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 118 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Petaluma Municipal Airport (8.1 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.