Jared Smith founded @chswx on Twitter in 2008 as an experiment in disseminating weather data through social media. In the ensuing decade-and-a-half, @chswx has provided live coverage of tropical cyclones, tornadoes, severe weather, and even a couple bouts of winter weather to the good people of Charleston, SC.
After an unexpectedly wet Wednesday — the product of strong convergence within a moist onshore flow — we’ll turn warmer for Thursday as winds go southerly ahead of the front. Temperatures in the mid-70s appear likely by the afternoon despite mostly cloudy skies. A shower or two can’t be totally ruled out, but the feature that brought us the rain today will not be in place tomorrow.
As the front gets closer later Thursday evening, shower chances will begin to head back up from the west, with the best chances of rain generally around and after midnight into Friday. A rumble of thunder can’t be totally ruled out, but severe weather is currently not expected.
The front gets through Friday with additional showers and maybe a thunderstorm. We then cool off for the weekend, with temperatures returning closer to normal values (low-mid 60s) for this time of year.
The rest of the work week will feature ever-warmer temperatures as a cold front approaches the area. Wednesday will be our last largely rain-free day, though, as shower chances enter the forecast for Thursday afternoon as the front gets closer. We could even hear some rumbles of thunder overnight Thursday into Friday morning. We’ll keep shower chances around for Friday, but peep those highs: mid-70s on Thursday and Friday. It’s been a while since we had a SEWE start out that warm, that’s for sure. Once the front is through sometime Friday evening, temperatures will calm down to more seasonable low-to-mid-60s highs for the weekend with a rain-free forecast expected.
After a relatively chilly day to start the work week, we’ll begin to see temperatures rebound beginning Tuesday. Lows will once again scrape freezing in the morning, but we’ll be seeing highs top out in the low 60s in the afternoon with mostly sunny skies expected.
Temperatures continue to head up as the week goes on. Wednesday should scrape close to 70° in the afternoon, then we get warmer Thursday into Friday as a cold front approaches. Looks like our best rain chances for this week arrive beginning Thursday afternoon into Friday as the front gets through the area. More exact timings will become clearer over the next couple days, so stay tuned as those forecasts are fine-tuned. The good news is that the weekend’s weather looks seasonable and quiet, with temperatures within spitting distance of normal and rain-free conditions expected.
Temperatures are much cooler today in the wake of a cold front that moved by the area yesterday. We’ve started the day in the mid-30s at many spots, and temperatures don’t look to crack 60° this afternoon despite full sunshine. It’s a…erm…lovely day for the cool-weather fans in our midst. Looking for something warmer from Mother Nature? You don’t have to wait long — we’re back in the 70s by mid-week.
The weekend’s weather will turn on a cold front on Sunday. Saturday’s certainly the better day to get out and about with highs topping out in the low 70s despite increasing cloud cover. The cold front should get through the area sometime Sunday morning, accompanied by a wind shift to the northwest. Showers will be possible ahead of and around frontal passages, with slight shower chances indicated from early Sunday morning through the early afternoon hours. Sunday’s forecast high temperatures will be reached in the early afternoon before steadily falling for the rest of the day as cooler and drier air advects into the area. This airmass will make us all feel like we got the cold shoulder on Valentine’s Day, but temperatures will warm quickly thereafter, with a return to the 70s by late next week.
After an absolutely gorgeous day today, we’ve essentially got a repeat on tap for Friday as high pressure remains in control of our weather. Temperatures will once again top out right around 70° with low humidity continuing. Try to get outside if you can!
Saturday may actually run even a touch warmer, but increasing cloud cover will portend changes coming to the area as a cold front approaches the area Saturday night. Right now it looks to come through sometime Sunday morning, which should act to knock high temperatures down around 10° from the previous day. Even colder air will arrive for Valentine’s Day, but temperatures look to moderate back to spring preview levels as next week goes on. Overall, it looks like we’re going to end February on a warmer note, and that isn’t too shabby considering the pretty chilly stretch we’ve been in over the last month or so.
After a couple really dreary days across the Lowcountry, we will finish the balance of the work week with much more sunshine as high pressure builds into the area from the southwest. This’ll not only help clear us out, but the westerly winds will help temperatures moderate as well, with temperatures heading a few degrees above normal to close out the week.
Wednesday may start with some patches of dense fog across the area, with a better risk of fog found inland of 17-A. We’ll want to watch surface temperatures closely, as some spots well inland could be at risk of some freezing fog overnight into tomorrow morning, potentially producing some slick spots on bridges and overpasses near the I-95 corridor. This does not appear to be a concern for Charleston proper, though. If they do form, any slick spots will not last terribly long after sunrise as temperatures quickly head into the 50s before peaking in the low 60s in the afternoon.
From there, the airmass will continue to moderate, allowing for highs in the mid-60s on Thursday and the upper 60s on Friday under mostly sunny skies. We’ll start those days generally around 40°, too, which is right around normal for this point in the year. All in all, not too shabby to close out the work week. Looks like we get Saturday in rain-free, too, but with a few more clouds before rain chances kick back up Sunday as a frontal system moves by.
This week’s forecast is largely straightforward and gets better as the week wears on. We’ll get much of the rain out of the way Monday morning, with shower chances diminishing heading into the evening as coastal low pressure departs. Monday’s going to be the chilliest day of the set with highs struggling to crack 50° thanks to the showers and persistent cold wedge.
Cloud cover and maybe a shower or two will linger to start Tuesday, but we’ll be trending clearer as the day goes on. Highs top out in the mid-50s. From there, temperatures begin to trend at or even above normal with several days of quiet weather on tap from Wednesday to at least Saturday if not beyond. There is a little model noise around some rain in the area by next Sunday, but agreement and consistency is meh at the moment. For now, the NWS forecast maintains dry but slightly cooler weather for Sunday. We’ll keep an eye on that in case it changes!
After a sunny respite on Saturday, clouds and showers are returning to the forecast for Sunday into Monday as moisture lifts atop a southward-building wedge of high pressure and a trough of low pressure sets up along the coast. Expect showers to develop mostly offshore overnight into early Sunday, with the best chance for any showers to be found near the coast. Many of us could stay dry until Sunday evening, when low pressure developing offshore begins to send more precipitation northward and westward. This feature will keep precipitation in our forecast into much of Monday as well.
Sunday’s going to remain pretty chilly as the wedge builds southward amidst a persistent northeasterly breeze. We’ll start the day in the mid-30s with wind chills dipping into the 20s. Cloud cover will inhibit much in the way of warming, with highs only looking to top out in the low 50s in the afternoon.
While it will certainly feel like there should be frozen precipitation, the good news is that the airmass is just not cold enough to accomplish that. Why is this good news, you ask? Because in these kinds of setups, the most likely frozen precipitation type would be freezing rain. (Gross.)
Hang in there through tomorrow and Monday, though — the rest of the week looks to be rather nice, with temperatures near normal and decent sunshine as high pressure builds in.
Our spring preview has one more day to go before a cold front comes through later Friday and knocks temperatures down quite a bit for Saturday. We’ll see rain chances head up as we head into Friday afternoon and evening, with even a chance for a rumble of thunder or two. Instability will be lacking, but the shear should be enough to support a couple thunderstorms. It won’t rain all day, though, with the best chances around dinnertime.
We turn much cooler Saturday in the wake of said cold front. We’ll see a brief round of clearing on Saturday before a coastal low develops near Florida and heads northeastward, helping to drive a wedge of cooler air southward and keeping a shower chance around near the coast for much of the day. (That being said, it will not rain all day at any one location, either!) Temperatures may not get out of the upper 40s on Sunday. The good news? No sub-freezing temperatures are in the forecast, thus there are no winter weather concerns.
Despite winds going back around to the northeast later Saturday into Sunday, we’re far enough removed from the perigean spring tide where coastal flooding doesn’t look to be a concern for the weekend. It’s been an active year for coastal flooding already, with 11 events in 2022 so far, and we’re just into February 3rd. This already beats 1998’s total of ten coastal flooding events in that year’s first two months.