The holidays are over, and we’re back at it in 2024. The good news is that mostly quiet weather, except for a wet Wednesday evening, looks to be the rule for the first work week of 2024. A cold front coming by Monday evening (which was able to squeeze out a few showers as it passed) will set us up for a chilly start to Tuesday, with lows around freezing in the metro and likely below further inland. Despite clear skies, highs will only get to the mid-50s — a few degrees below early January normals (60°).

After a freeze in the morning, we’ll get much of Wednesday in rain-free before showers arrive generally around and after sunset ahead of another storm system. The rain from this will be reasonably short-lived, though, and should depart before daybreak on Thursday. We start Thursday around 40° and warm back into the mid-50s in the afternoon under partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies. Aside from a chillier start on Friday, in which we’ll once again flirt with freezing, expect highs to warm to the mid-50s once again under mostly sunny skies. The next storm system looks to arrive Saturday; it’ll probably be a bit more of an effective rainmaker than Wednesday evening’s storm, though it should depart by Sunday morning.

A few climate notes from 2023

2023 was another warm year for the Lowcountry. At Charleston International Airport in North Charleston, preliminary data indicates that it was the second-warmest on record (records start in 1938) with an average temperature of 68.7°, second only to 1990’s 69.2°. At Waterfront Park in downtown Charleston, it was the seventh-warmest year on record, with an average temperature of 68.6°. (Records there go back to 1870.)

Let’s dive into 2023’s numbers…

Temperatures

• The hottest day of 2023 at North Charleston was August 13, with an average temperature of 89.5°. It also featured the hottest high of the year at 98°, which was reached on July 4 and August 14 as well. August 13 and 14 tied at downtown Charleston for warmest of the year with an average temperature of 87.5°.
• The coldest day of 2023 at North Charleston was December 20 with a high of 53° and a low of 27° yielding an average temperature of 40°. February 4 tied December 20 downtown for coldest of the year, when both days reached an average temperature of 43.5°. However, downtown Charleston did not go below freezing in 2023; the coldest low was 34° on January 15.

Precipitation

• December 2023 finished as the fifth-wettest on record at both North Charleston and downtown. North Charleston recorded 6.88″ of rain, while downtown recorded 7.28″ of rain, with those totals heavily driven by the December 17th nor’easter.
• While December 17th was the wettest day of the year in downtown Charleston, July 23rd was the wettest day at North Charleston, when 3.68″ of rain fell.
• 2023 was the 28th wettest on record at North Charleston with 54.64″ of rain, while it was the 35th wettest on record downtown with 49.32″ of rain. (Seabreeze thunderstorms staying inland of downtown really do make a difference!)
• The CoCoRaHS station SC-CR-033 sited a half mile east-southeast of McClellanville recorded the most precipitation in Charleston County in 2023, with 67.87″ of rain. 11.23″ of this rain fell on December 17 during the nor’easter. The highest one-day rain total in 2023 was 12.87″ at the CoCORaHS station SC-CR-010 sited 0.2 miles ESE of McClellanville, also on December 17th.
• There was no snow at North Charleston. This broke a streak of three consecutive years with a trace of snowfall at Charleston International Airport. (Downtown snowfall records are quite spotty starting from 1980 on, but it’s safe to say it didn’t snow there either.)

Flooding

• There were 75 coastal flooding events (water level 7’+ MLLW in Charleston Harbor) in 2023, second only to 2020’s 89.
• Of those, six were major floods (8.0’+ MLLW), including two top-ten tides: 9.23′ associated with Idalia on August 30, and 9.86′ associated with the December 17th nor’easter, which was also the highest non-tropical tide on record.

Severe weather & tropics

• There were ten tornado warnings in the Tri-County area during 2023; eight of those were issued on August 30th in association with Idalia.
• Three tornadoes were confirmed from Idalia, including the infamous tornado that flipped a car on Highway 52 in Goose Creek.
• Idalia was our only significant brush with a tropical cyclone in 2023.

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