A station inside the city
NOAA's own weather station for Kankakee stands inside the city. Station USC00114603 sits at the metropolitan wastewater plant at 41.1350 N, 87.8856 W (elevation 182.9 metres), about a mile and a half northwest of the city center, and NOAA publishes full 1991–2020 climate normals for it. So the temperatures on this page were measured in Kankakee, not borrowed from a neighbouring town.
The station's temperature normals
NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the Kankakee station put the annual mean temperature at 51.2 degrees. January's normal high is 32.5 degrees and its normal low 16.3 degrees; July's normal high is 84.8 and its normal low 64.8. A normal year carries an average of 129.1 days with a low at or below freezing, 37.9 days whose high never rises above freezing, and 21.3 days reaching 90 degrees or above. NOAA computed those temperature normals from 26 years of record inside 1991–2020.
The sections below read those figures the way a painter planning a year might, without turning them into dates.
The depth of winter
A January normal high of 32.5 degrees and a normal low of 16.3 describe a month poorly suited to outside paint, which needs the temperature on its label to cure. On the 37.9 days a year whose high never rises above freezing, there is no outdoor painting at all. This is the season for indoor work: bedrooms, hallways, ceilings, doors and trim. Keep the heat on in each room being painted, so walls and woodwork are at room temperature, and air rooms out in short bursts rather than leaving windows open.
It's also the season to plan. Painters' calendars for the warm months fill up, so getting proposals and choosing colors while the ground is still frozen puts you near the front of the line.
The shoulders of the year
Between the cold months and the warm ones come stretches when days are mild but nights can still drop to freezing. With 129.1 days a year of lows at or below freezing in the normals, cold nights are a real part of the calendar. For outside work, the label's overnight minimum matters as much as the daytime temperature. A careful painter starts later in the morning, once dew is off, and stops early enough for the last coat to set before evening cools the wall.
The height of summer
A July normal high of 84.8 and normal low of 64.8 make for long working days, and that is when most exterior repaints are scheduled. The 21.3 days reaching 90 degrees or above bring their own care: paint on a sun-heated wall can dry too fast, leaving lap marks. Working with the shade, from walls the sun has left to walls it hasn't reached, keeps surfaces cooler and finishes smoother.
Matching jobs to the calendar
- Cold months: interior rooms, ceilings, doors, trim, cabinets.
- Shoulder months: exterior prep and repairs on mild days, interior work on cold ones.
- Warm months: siding, trim, porches, decks and fences, following the shade.
Our exterior painting and deck and fence staining pages describe the outside jobs in more detail.
What a heating season means indoors
A normal Kankakee year carries 5,983.2 heating degree days against 996.8 cooling degree days, on NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for the Kankakee station. A long heating season means a long stretch with closed windows and dry, heated indoor air. Fresh paint dries readily in that air, but odor lingers in a closed house, so low-odor water-based products and good airflow make winter painting easier to live with.
What Illinois says about contractors
The Illinois Attorney General says general contractors do not need a state license or certification, but may need a permit from the municipality where they work; roofers and plumbers are the trades it lists as needing a state license. That is the Attorney General's guidance, quoted as it reads.
Questions for scheduling
- When could you start, inside and outside?
- What is the lowest temperature on the label of the paint you'll use?
- What happens to the schedule if a cold snap comes through?