Painting in cold or damp weather.
First off, keep your paint at room temperature. Cold paint usually thickens and is hard to work with. You can thin it sparingly, knowing that as it warms up, it will become overly thin. This is important on days that the temperature is going to substantially warm up.
Read the label. It will tell you the temperature range that the paint works best at.
Temperature may also affect the color and sheen of the paint. Why? I don’t know. But, some latex paints will dry a different color cold than warm. Most noticeably, when touching up.
Oil based paints will work at colder temperatures better than water based paints.
Some water based paints will tolerate dampness of the surface to be painted. Water based paints should be well dry before it rains.
Solvent based paints will tolerate rain after it is applied even if it’s not quite dry.
Exotic coatings requiring a catalyst to be mixed in will actually not dry if exposed to water during or before it has a chance to cure out.
Ideally, if the weather is too cold to paint within the temperature guidelines set by the manufacturer it’s best to wait.
If you’ve done a repair, out of wood for example, and you want to protect it, get a good coat of primer on it and wait for the temperature to warm up.
