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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.

Weekend forecast: Largely quiet, but watch for coastal flooding in the evenings

/ June 2, 2023 at 10:30 PM

This weekend’s forecast is looking pretty good by 2023 standards, and will certainly be a far cry from what last weekend looked like. Saturday will be the warmer of the two days with highs topping out in the mid-80s in the afternoon. A few showers will be possible along the seabreeze, but those should be few and far between. A cold front moves by overnight Saturday into early Sunday morning, which will usher in some cooler and drier air that’ll keep highs capped around 80° in the afternoon under a mix of sun and clouds. Watch for some breezy conditions in the wake of the front on Sunday, with gusts near 30 MPH possible particularly on elevated surfaces and at the beaches.

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Friday & the weekend: Mostly quiet with temperatures a little below normal

/ June 1, 2023 at 11:01 PM

This weekend’s weather looks closer to what we wish we had last weekend. Expect highs to run generally in the mid-80s on Friday and Saturday. A cold front pushes through later Saturday, and this will drive highs a little cooler on Sunday as a result — generally topping out in the low 80s. We’ll start each day squarely in the mid-60s. Overall, these temperatures are below normal for the start of June.

This might be one of the quieter weekends we’ve had rain-wise this far this year. A stray shower or storm is possible Friday afternoon and evening, with lower chances Saturday and Sunday. We’ll see how this evolves, but this might be as close as we’ve gotten to a rain-free forecast for a weekend since early February! Stay tuned.

If you’re looking for a more authentic June feel, highs in the upper 80s look to return to the weather picture — at least briefly — by the middle of next week.

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Thursday: Mix of sun and clouds, below-normal temperatures to start climatological summer

/ May 31, 2023 at 11:12 PM

Thursday’s forecast is quiet and a little cool for this point in the year as we kick off climatological summer on June 1. Temperatures will generally run a couple degrees below normal on Thursday as cloud cover and a northeast breeze helps to keep things a little on the “cool” side. (Quotes around “cool” because it’ll still be warm and a little muggy, too.) As is customary for June, a shower can’t be totally discounted within this regime, but the vast majority of us get the day in rain-free.

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Rest of the work week: A slightly cooler than normal start to June

/ May 30, 2023 at 9:41 PM

The forecast for the rest of the work week is pretty straightforward: a mix of sun and clouds each day, with temperatures starting the day around normal before topping out a few degrees below normal each afternoon. Highs will generally run in the low 80s after starting each day in the mid-60s, somewhat unusually “cool” for the end of May and beginning of June. Precipitation chances will be minimal Wednesday and Thursday, with a slight chance of an evening thunderstorm on Friday.

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Tuesday: Temperatures near normal, stray PM thunderstorm possible

/ May 29, 2023 at 7:58 PM

After what’s turned out to be a really beautiful Memorial Day, we head back to work and school on Tuesday with similar, if not slightly warmer, weather expected. We’ll start the day a few degrees warmer — generally around the mid-60s — and highs should warm to the mid-80s in the afternoon. There’s a risk for a stray shower or thunderstorm in the later afternoon and early evening hours as the seabreeze gets rolling, but otherwise, the vast majority of us get Tuesday in rain-free as well.

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Memorial Day forecast: The sun returns, but a storm is possible in the afternoon

/ May 28, 2023 at 9:57 PM

The sun will make a return to our skies for Memorial Day as surface low pressure continues to move away from the area and westerly winds dry things out a bit. We start the day much cooler than normal, with lows bottoming out in the upper 50s. (The record low of 53° set in 1961 remains safe.) Sunshine and the aforementioned westerly winds should help highs top out in the low 80s — a couple ticks below normal as well, but certainly much more seasonable than the 60s and 70s of recent days. The only fly in the ointment may be a stray thunderstorm or two in the afternoon as the seabreeze moves inland. If the beach is in your Memorial Day plans, keep an eye out later in the afternoon as storm motions will be toward the coast. Otherwise, no concerns.

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Sunday’s forecast: Improvement begins

/ May 27, 2023 at 11:14 PM

We are through the worst of our experience with the coastal storm that has been bothering us for the better part of two days, and improvement will start to show itself on Sunday. We should see showers mostly shut down around daybreak or so, but I’m not sure a stray or two can be totally discounted throughout the day. We should start to see some breaks in the clouds, and by the evening, I suspect we’ll have at least some sunshine to close out the day. Temperatures will remain well below normal for this point in the year, topping out in the low 70s after starting the day around 60°.

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Memorial Day weekend forecast: Soggy Saturday, but recovering Sunday into Monday

/ May 26, 2023 at 10:23 PM

Well, this is a really unusual Memorial Day weekend forecast, to put it mildly. Showers will be ongoing as we wake up Saturday with gusty winds and quite a chill in the air. We start the day in the upper 50s — well below normal for this point in the year. Showers and north winds will keep temperatures capped in the mid-60s. To give you a general idea of how abnormal this is for this point in May, the normal low is 66°, and the NWS forecast is 67°. That’ll be one degree off the record low maximum if it verifies.

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Friday & Memorial Day weekend: Unsettled as a coastal low affects the area

/ May 25, 2023 at 9:39 PM

Wet weather will kick off the Memorial Day weekend as a low pressure system rides up the coast and affects the Carolinas with heavy rain, gusty winds, rough surf, strong rip currents, and very hazardous marine conditions. It’s also going to be very unseasonably cool, at least to start — think highs in the 60s for Saturday. (Seriously.)

Friday will start in the upper 50s (the normal low for May 26 is 66°, for comparison) and only warm to the low 70s with cloud cover and increasing shower activity throughout the day. Winds will be breezy, coming in from the northeast around 20 MPH with higher gusts. The best chance for showers will begin in the evening hours and last well into Saturday as the low pressure system comes ashore somewhere between Charleston and Wilmington.

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Thursday: Showers begin late heading into a stormy first part of the holiday weekend

/ May 24, 2023 at 7:44 PM

We start to see a shift toward more unsettled weather beginning Thursday as low pressure begins to organize offshore, sending more moisture and some windy conditions our way. We start the day around 60° as high pressure remains wedged in place. We’ll get a fair bit of the day in rain-free as highs top out around 80° in the afternoon. As low pressure begins to organize offshore later Thursday, we’ll start to see a risk for a few evening showers.

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