from what i hear it's best to let stucco sit, the longer the better. You want the first coat to sit and crack if necessary that way the second or final coat goes up and fills those gaps. Also i think the cold weather helps it dry slower which is also a good thing.

Traditional three coat stucco applications over wire lath should not be applied below 45 degrees. The first coat is the scratch coat followed by the brown coat which can be applied the next day after the scratch when 45 degrees or warmer. The scratch/brown coat then must set for a minimum of thirty days before top/color coating with the base stucco coat. As Iamsum states, this is to let the scratch/brown coats crack as much as they are going to before top coating. If you are in an area with freezing periodic temperatures, you are not going to want to use the traditional top/base color coat stucco, but rather an acrylic or elastomeric top/ color coat that remains flexible with temperature changes and it's other advantage is that it remains virtually crack free. Ask your contractor what he is using as a top coat, especially over the block.

All the above is true somewhat but there are many types of stucco products some take 1 day to dry some 30 days........... in the winter you can use accelerator or aluminite what the accelerator does it protects it from freezing and it allows it to cure fast

The aluminite is my favorite it drys the stucco within 20 min and it also protects it from freezing but it is very expensive most contractors don't want to pay for it so instead they cover the house and put a cumple heaters usually the heat radiated from your house while having your stucco covered is enough to protect it from heating you don't want it to hot or to cold most specifications say above 32F and below 60f because stucco should stay humid....... also if Crack master is used your good to go right away

7 year old post.

It may have been an old post but it was helpful to me after all this time.