Plenty of sunshine is in the offing for the rest of the work week as high pressure remains the primary driving force for our weather. Temperatures climbed back into the low 90s on Labor Day, and this will continue as we head into the rest of the week, with mid-90s expected by mid-week. Dewpoints in the mid-60s will keep heat indices in the mid-90s on Tuesday, but as dewpoints creep up throughout the week, so it shall be with the heat index as well. Feels-like temperatures will be flirting with 100° again starting Wednesday through the rest of the week.

There’s not much in the way of rainfall to report on for much of the week with high pressure in control, but we start to see some cracks in the armor on Friday as a few storms should pop on the seabreeze, with slightly better coverage of showers and storms each afternoon this weekend.

Not sure if there are enough superlatives for how this Labor Day Weekend looks, weather-wise. Temperatures will be comfortably warm with reasonable humidity all weekend. Expect mid-80s Saturday and Sunday before we turn back toward 90° on Monday, though dewpoints in the mid-60s should negate any heat index impacts. Clouds will be few and far between, with predominantly sunny skies dominating. It’ll be a truly fantastic long weekend of weather, and I hope you can take advantage.

The only issue we’ll run into is some tidal flooding with each high tide cycle through Sunday morning. After Friday evening’s expected moderate flood, we’ll only see minor coastal flooding thereafter. You’ll simply want to keep an ear out for Coastal Flood Advisories from the National Weather Service so you know when the risk for a few closed roads will be highest.

A nice round of decent and less-humid post-Idalia weather continues for Friday into the weekend. Expect highs in the mid-80s each day as high pressure wedges south into the area, with a string of lows in the mid-60s for the first time since early June expected. It will be comfortable outside — not too humid, not so dry that you need to constantly apply lip balm, either. Expect dewpoints to run in the low 60s for the next few days, yielding relative humidity values around 45-50% at peak heating. Not too shabby at all. The only fly in the ointment will be the potential for coastal flooding with each high tide cycle as winds go to the northeast and remnant water loading from Idalia. We should see minor flooding with the 9:16 PM high tide this evening along with the 9:37 AM high tide on Friday, with moderate flooding expected with Friday evening’s high tide peaking just after 10PM. This will cause some road closures in downtown Charleston, so be ready if you have plans downtown on Friday night. We’ll continue to see at least minor flooding with each high tide cycle this weekend, too, as the northeasterly winds — which are giving us this rather nice start to September — persist. It’s a small price to pay for what will be some of the best air we’ve felt in a while.

As we head into Sunday and Labor Day, Summer will get a proper sendoff with highs topping out closer to the upper 80s but with little appreciable change in dewpoints. Lingering high tides may keep the rip current risk elevated at the beaches, but otherwise, things look good. We stay rain-free, in fact, through Thursday as temperatures head back into the 90s next week. Enjoy!

After a somewhat wild day at times with Idalia, Thursday will provide much, much better weather. Lingering breezy conditions and cloud cover will give way to mostly sunny skies by afternoon, with highs topping out in the low 80s as northwest winds bring some drier air into the area. This will kick off a nice Friday and long weekend, too. We’ve earned it, methinks.

Thanks for following along, as always, throughout Idalia. Your reports were invaluable to NWS warning operations and helped your neighbors stay in the know about what was happening. Social media, for all its problems, can still be super cool in times like these.

Idalia is back to being a tropical storm this evening. As of the 5PM fix from the National Hurricane Center, Idalia was centered about 40 miles west of Savannah (or 115 miles WSW of Charleston) and was moving northeast at 21 MPH. Maximum sustained winds were at 70 MPH and continuing to fall. Tropical Storm Warnings continue, a Tornado Watch remains in effect until 10PM, and a Flood Watch continues until 2AM. The Hurricane Watch was dropped at 5PM after Idalia was downgraded.

Idalia has been a pain so far today in the Lowcountry, with numerous tornado warnings (and some possible touchdowns, including a car getting tossed in Goose Creek) and very heavy rain in spots. Radar is generally estimating about 1-3″ so far, with some more to fall as rain bands continue to move through. The heaviest rain still looks to be positioned to move up through the Midlands, but may scrape parts of far inland Dorchester and Berkeley counties.

Closer to the coast, we will be dealing with increasingly gusty winds — gusts to tropical storm force appear likely across the barrier islands into downtown and Mt. Pleasant — as well as significant coastal flooding punctuated by a forecast 8.7′ high tide which would rank among the top ten on record. The water level in the harbor as of about 5:45 PM was already up to 6.06′, which is a departure of a little over 1 and ½ feet. High tide is expected to peak around 8:30. Numerous road closures are expected; in fact, around this time it’s probably best to just be where you’re going to be. Any heavy rain bands that develop and move over will exacerbate flooding, perhaps making for a widespread problem downtown and on barrier islands.

After 2-3am, we should start to see improvement, though gusty winds and maybe some showers will persist into Thursday. For now, though, keep phones charged and weather radios on standby in case you lose power. Be safe — we’ll be done with Idalia before you know it.

Hurricane Idalia, which as of this writing was a strong Category 2 hurricane with 100 MPH maximum winds, will make landfall as a major hurricane in Florida later Tuesday or early Wednesday. From there, Idalia will turn more northeast, bringing heavy rain, gusty winds, coastal and freshwater flooding, and the risk for a tornado or two within rain bands to the area later Wednesday into early Thursday morning. Trends have been for the storm to track a little more inland of the coast than we’ve seen forecasted in the past day or so, and there is pretty good agreement that this will be the case, expanding the heavy rain threat further inland along with the tornado threat in the evening. Here’s a full rundown of what to expect.

Tuesday will be another warm and muggy day as we prepare for Idalia’s arrival in the Lowcountry. We start the day in the mid-70s and warm to around 90° with heat indices approaching 100° within the increasingly tropical airmass. Showers and thunderstorms should begin to fire along the seabreeze in the afternoon and become somewhat numerous at times. Heavy rain capable of minor flooding will be possible. We’ll also need to watch the risk for coastal flooding in the evening, with minor to moderate flooding possible as water levels approaching 7.5′ with the 7:31 PM high tide. Due to the Storm Surge Watch in effect, there will be no Coastal Flood Advisory, so keep that in mind.

Much of the weather scuttlebutt this week will be about Tropical Storm Idalia, which increasingly looks like it’s going to have impacts on the area Wednesday into Thursday. We have a couple reasonably quiet days ahead before the weather begins to head downhill later Tuesday night. Expect highs on Monday to top out in the low 90s with just a slight chance of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm along the seabreeze; it’ll be a similar story for a good bit of Tuesday before moisture from Idalia potentially triggers a predecessor rain event along and ahead of a stalled front, which could bring very heavy rain to some spots and maybe even some flooding ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Sunday will be yet another warm and muggy late-August day across the Lowcountry. We’ll start the day in the mid-to-upper 70s before highs head to the low 90s in the afternoon. Heat indices should peak in the low 100s. From there, we should see a scattering of showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of the seabreeze. We may also see some activity from the north near a stalling cold front trying to infiltrate the area as well. The strongest storms will be capable of heavy rain and gusty winds, though widespread severe weather is far from in the cards. Overall, no washout of a day, just be ready to move outdoor activities inside if storms approach.

Saturday will be the peak of this stretch of hot weather as temperatures head to the mid-90s in the afternoon (though not quite as high as forecast earlier this week…good thing, too). Heat indices will get close to 109-110° in the afternoon. There’s no heat advisory as of this writing, and if trends continue, we’ll probably fall just short of criteria. Still, these kinds of heat indices still increase the risk for heat illness, so be getting plenty of water if you’re going to be exerting yourself outside in the afternoon. We should see a few storms fire along the seabreeze in the afternoon, which will bring some relief to a few of y’all.

More widespread showers and storms are expected Sunday (though not a complete washout, either) as a front sags southward and stalls out nearby. It’ll be another warm and humid day with air temperatures topping out in the low 90s and heat indices 100-103° before thunderstorms fire off and cool things down somewhat. The unsettled weather will continue into next week as the front hangs around and plays a big role in our weather.