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.
We’ve got a nice stretch of weather ahead for Friday and the weekend as high pressure rules the meteorological roost for a few days. Friday will start on a chilly note with lows in the low 40s feeling closer to the mid-30s thanks to elevated winds persisting through the morning. Temperatures Friday only top out in the mid-60s despite full sunshine owing the cooler and drier air continuing to push into the area.
The cool air advection shuts off on Saturday, though, and temperatures respond quite nicely to kick off one of the better weather weekends in a while. After another low-40s start, expect highs to peak right in the mid-70s in the afternoon with unfettered sunshine. And if you like Saturday, Sunday starts a touch warmer but ends up pretty much in the same place in the afternoon with highs in the mid-70s. Really, the only fly in the ointment is all the pollen — but such is life in March.
Showers return to the forecast on Thursday as a cold front moves into the area. We’ll get off to a comfortable start, with temperatures in the low-to-mid-50s to start the day. The front should show up later in the day, and we’ll get some rain-free time in, warming to the mid-70s before showers arrive. Model guidance brings the rain into the area by mid-afternoon and gets it through the area about 2-3 hours later. The rain won’t amount to much; about a quarter-inch at most. It’ll turn breezy as the front moves by, with gusts 20-30 MPH possible. Once it’s through, we’ll start to cool down heading into the overnight.
Warmth will peak Wednesday as high pressure slips offshore, sending winds back around to the south and highs up to around 80° in the afternoon under mostly sunny skies. We’ll see a few more clouds move in late as a cold front draws closer to the area, but Wednesday will remain rain-free.
The main weather story for Sunday will be the risk for strong to severe thunderstorms in association with a squall line moving through the area generally from the mid-morning through mid-afternoon hours. Damaging wind gusts will be the overriding concern, but a tornado or two cannot be discounted, nor can some sporadic hail reports be discounted as well.
Breezy conditions continue this weekend ahead of a strong storm system that’s working its way across the midsection of the country over the next day or so, which could bring some strong storms to the area on Sunday.
Warm weather continues for Friday and the weekend ahead of our next storm system on Sunday, which could bring us a round of strong to severe thunderstorms.
We’ll see a few more clouds on Thursday as a shortwave trough swings through aloft, but other than a slight downtick in temperatures compared to Wednesday’s highs in the low 80s, we’ll remain seasonably warm as surface high pressure remains anchored in the Atlantic for one more day. We’ll keep an eye on the moisture profiles to make sure that no showers try to overachieve with the upper-level energy moving by, but the expectation is that it’ll just be too dry for much more than the enhanced cloud cover.
We’ll continue this benign stretch of weather for the rest of the work week, but as we head into the weekend, we’ll need to keep an eye on a storm system that could bring another round of rain and thunderstorms for Sunday.
Much more sunshine is in store for Tuesday as low pressure pulls away from the area at the surface and aloft. This will help warm things up, too — after a mid-40s start, downslope winds out of the northwest and the aforementioned sunshine will push highs to the low 70s in the afternoon, a couple degrees above normal for March 11. Overall, a much nicer day than Monday (weather-wise, anyway).
