A cold front will approach the area tonight, bringing with it periods of cloud cover that will occasionally obscure the view of the partial lunar eclipse (beginning around 2:30am, peaking at 4am, and ending around 5:30am). However, given that much of this cloud cover will be higher-based, it could make for some rather dramatic photography even though the moon won’t be completely clear. Something to think about as you consider your plans tonight!

Said cold front moves through the area around daybreak Friday, and brings with it much cooler and drier air — expect highs to only top out in the low 60s despite mostly sunny skies. We’ll have more of the same on Saturday, with high pressure wedging southward a bit and kicking up northeasterly winds to yield wind chills in the low 30s in the morning before warming back to just the low 60s once more. High pressure will slip offshore quickly, though, and by Sunday we’ll feel warmer temperatures in the upper 60s to around 70° as return flow from the southwest increases ahead of another quite potent cold front that’ll swing through to kick off the abbreviated Thanksgiving work week. How potent, you ask? It may very well be enough to bring the season’s first freeze to inland locations. Highs could struggle to the low 50s next Tuesday if current forecasts pan out. Stay tuned!

There will be an outside shot at some minor coastal flooding Saturday morning given the winds shifting around to the northeast and the full moon helping to elevate astronomical tides somewhat. Right now, the forecast falls just short of the 7′ mean lower low water level that marks the coastal flooding threshold, but we’ll keep an eye on it. Thankfully, this will not be anywhere in the ballpark of the major flooding event we experienced a couple weekends ago, and the threat for coastal flooding will be relatively short-lived as winds promptly go offshore on Monday after frontal passage.

We’ve got one more mild day coming up for Thursday ahead of a cold front which will chill us out quite nicely on Friday and Saturday. Temperatures look to start about 10-13° warmer Thursday morning than they did on Wednesday, bottoming out in the mid-50s. There could be some patchy fog in the morning, so be alert on the commute for visibility drops. We’ll warm to the mid-to-upper 70s in the afternoon despite mostly cloudy skies — thank a little compressional heating and southwesterly winds ahead of the front for that. Moisture looks scant but a shower or two can’t totally be ruled out for a few of you; the NWS forecast has 10% probability of precipitation so if there is any measurable rain, it’s likely going to be very limited in scope.

After the front gets through, we have a couple days in the low-to-mid 60s coming up for Friday and Saturday before warming back to the low 70s on Sunday. Keep sweaters on standby for the first part of the weekend!

After topping out at 72° today away from the cooler coastline, we’re back into the 70s for a couple more days before a cold front swings through for Friday, allowing high pressure to wedge into the area for the weekend. We’ll actually see a few clouds on Wednesday before an increase in cloud cover Thursday in response to the cold front approaching the area. There’s a tiny chance that we may see a shower or two, but the relative dearth of moisture should keep the vast majority of us rain-free. Cool high pressure builds back into the area on Friday, keeping high temperatures well into sweater weather territory in the low 60s in the afternoon. Overall, not a bad way to close out the last work week before Thanksgiving.

Tuesday is looking really, really nice with high pressure firmly in control of our weather. A dry atmosphere and plenty of sinking air will keep skies clear, and the airmass will modify just a touch to yield highs in the upper 60s to around 70° in the afternoon.

We may deal with some frost formation in the morning. A Frost Advisory is in effect for inland Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Cover up or bring in sensitive plants tonight into Tuesday morning. Other than that, though, no major weather concerns at all.

Enjoy a nice Tuesday!

We’ve got a quiet weather week ahead thanks to high pressure and dry air, especially in the first part of the week. Monday gets us off to a cool start, with lows in the mid-40s in the metro only warming to around 64-65° in the afternoon despite full, uninterrupted sunshine. We keep mostly sunny skies in play through Wednesday as high pressure slips offshore, allowing temperatures to warm up into the low 70s by mid-week. A reinforcing shot of cool air arrives Friday with a dry cold front, knocking temperatures back into the 60s for the weekend. A shower or two could pop on Sunday as high pressure wedges southwestward across the area and a coastal trough develops, but it’s certainly not enough to cancel any plans. Enjoy it — it’s hard to believe that we’re just a little over a week out from Thanksgiving at this point!

We’re back to nice weather this weekend as a series of dry cold fronts move through, reinforcing progressively cooler and drier air as time goes on. Any leftover showers should be departing with the front Friday morning, and despite frontal passage, we should still warm into the mid-70s but with lower dewpoints spreading into the area. Winds out of the west and northwest could have a little downslope component to them, which will aid in warming us a few degrees above normal for the afternoon.

Saturday looks excellent, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures around or just a hair above normal ahead of another front that looks to get through the area later in the evening. This front brings in another shot of cooler and drier air for Sunday, which certainly could prompt a sweater weather watch with highs in the mid-60s despite full sunshine. Overall, I would say this weekend’s weather will dramatically outclass the mess that was last weekend.

While we reached minor flood stage once again in the harbor early this afternoon — eight consecutive days of coastal flooding, for those of you counting at home — the risk for additional coastal flooding is extremely low going into Friday and virtually nonexistent heading into the weekend. (And thank goodness for that.)

We’ll have our warmest and most humid day for another week or so on Thursday ahead of a cold front and sharp upper trough which should bring some showers into the area starting as early as the late afternoon through Friday morning. Temperatures for this Veterans Day will run a few degrees above normal thanks to southerly flow ahead of the front — expect mid-70s in the afternoon. Dewpoints in the 60s will certainly feel a little more humid than we’ve felt the past few days, too. Expect rainfall amounts to run generally on the light side, with a few spots possibly recording around a quarter-inch of rain on the high end.

One other good thing about the southerly to southwesterly flow that’s developing is that it should help put an end to this week of coastal flooding. The tide in the harbor reached 7.17′ this morning, allowing for some shallow salt water flooding to occur. It’s expected that tomorrow’s tides will stay below the 7′ threshold for the first time since this stretch of coastal flooding began November 3rd. (And good riddance, too.)

The rest of the work week will be on the mild side as high pressure slips offshore ahead of a cold front. Wednesday will start a little on the cloudy side, which will act to keep lows from falling too far below the mid-40s in most spots. The sun will come back in the afternoon and yield another pleasant day with highs in the mid-70s.

Thereafter, a cold front approaches the area Thursday into Friday, bringing some scattered showers to the area beginning Thursday afternoon. A thunderstorm or two can’t be ruled out, either, but severe weather is not expected. Temperatures start in the mid-50s and top out in the mid-70s on Thursday. Friday starts even warmer, perhaps in the low 60s, before showers depart and cooler, drier air begins working into the area. Even still, expect highs in the mid-70s on Friday.

Don’t let the sweaters slip too far away — another cooldown is in the cards for the weekend with a series of reinforcing cold fronts into next week.

There is a small risk for some minor coastal flooding early Wednesday afternoon, but otherwise, this event appears to be finally in the books. This was a brutal stretch: we’ve had some degree of coastal flooding each day since November 3, with four consecutive days of major flooding between November 5-8. Three top-15 tides were set, including Sunday morning’s high tide at 8.51’ which was good for tenth highest on record.

Tuesday is going to be an excellent weather day across the Lowcountry with mostly sunny skies and temperatures warming nicely into the mid-70s in the afternoon as high pressure remains in firm control at the surface. We won’t start quite as chilly as we did this morning — the low of 37° today was the coldest since April 4, when it was also 37° — but it’ll still feel crisp with low 40s away from the warmer coastline.

We still cannot shake the risk for coastal flooding on Tuesday. Moderate coastal flooding is once again forecast around the 11:33am high tide, which should close some roads in downtown Charleston near the lunch hour. While a fifth consecutive day of major flooding is not expected, it is still well within the possibility that salt water could impinge upon major roads downtown, including the 17-to-61 off-ramp, Lockwood Blvd., and the areas around the City Market among other places. Be ready once again to use alternate routes. Fingers crossed that this is it!

After a tumultuous weekend of coastal flooding, wind, record-low maximum temperatures, and rain, the week ahead offers a nice respite. We’ll start the week chilly, with lows in the 30s away from the immediate coast warming to the mid-60s for Monday. The 70s return for a few days thereafter, with mostly fair weather until a cold front approaches the area late Thursday into Friday, bringing rain chances back into the picture for Friday and perhaps parts of Saturday. Don’t let the sweaters get too far out of reach, though: by Sunday, we’ll be feeling quite a cooldown as highs struggle to reach 60° despite partly cloudy skies.

A coastal flooding threat continues with the Monday morning high tide, which could again approach moderate coastal flood thresholds (7.5’ mean lower low water). High tide is forecast to peak around 10:32am. What’s a few more road closures after this insane weekend of flooding, in which we reached 8’ tides three times, including setting the 10th and 11th highest water levels on record at Charleston Harbor? The good news is that the coastal flood threat winds down thereafter as astronomical influences wane and offshore winds continue.