Blog

Author: Jared Smith

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.

The week ahead: January 7-13

Jared Smith / January 7, 2019 at 12:28 AM

The seven-day forecast from the National Weather Service in Charleston shows mostly dry conditions until the weekend.

I hope everybody enjoyed this absolutely fantastic weekend of weather. Our stretch of dry weather should continue through the rest of the work week before unsettled conditions return to the forecast for the weekend.

2018, reviewed: Another top-5 warm year, and more numbers

Jared Smith / January 3, 2019 at 8:30 AM

Despite January’s frigid start, 2018 landed within the top-five warmest years on record at the airport, tying 1998 with an average temperature of 67.9°. This is the fourth consecutive year that average temperatures have landed within the top five warmest on record. 1990 still reigns supreme, though, as the warmest recorded year with an average temperature of 69.3°.

Data for this post is sourced from a compilation of records by the Southeast Regional Climate Center as well as the National Weather Service forecast office in Charleston, SC. Records at the North Charleston climate site begin in 1938.

2018, reviewed: A relatively quiet severe weather year

Jared Smith / January 2, 2019 at 8:30 AM

Severe weather warning counts since 1986 for the NWS Charleston, SC county warning and forecast area. Storm-based warnings for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms began in October 2007, replacing warnings issued for whole counties.
Source: Iowa Environmental Mesonet

2018 was highly irregular in one fairly beneficial way: There was an overall lack of severe weather (at least as far as tornadoes, straight-line damaging winds, and hail go) during the year.

2018, reviewed: The January Winter Storm

Jared Smith / January 1, 2019 at 5:02 PM

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_0209-1024x768.jpg — Let’s be honest: If it snows like this in Charleston, it’ll top the year’s weather events.

To say 2018 was an interesting (and at times baffling) year in weather in Charleston is really selling it short. It just about had it all: Snow, tropical threats, frigid cold, sweltering heat, rainfall, and (of course!) flooding.

Over the next few days, I’ll be looking back at 2018’s key weather events and trends. Today, we start with the most epic weather event of 2018: The January 3rd winter storm.

Welcome to the @chswx Blog

Jared Smith / December 31, 2018 at 3:37 PM

Hello, world. Welcome to the brand new Charleston Weather Blog, built on a so-fresh-and-so-clean installation of WordPress which is now underlying the Charleston Weather site.