Unsettled weather arrives for Christmas as a complex and sprawling storm system begins to affect the area. We should see a few scattered showers in the morning through early afternoon, but expect shower coverage and intensity to tick up as we get further into the afternoon and evening hours. Temperatures on Christmas will run much warmer than climatology, though not into record territory. Expect lows in the mid-50s to yield to the low 70s in the afternoon before rain starts to kick in.
Water levels in Charleston Harbor look to reach flood stage (7′ MLLW) with the 6:30am high tide. This will put some salt water on some of the more vulnerable roads in Downtown Charleston, but no rain is expected to coincide, limiting the breadth of any flooding threat.
We have one more quiet day of weather ahead for Christmas Eve before a storm system starts to affect the area on Christmas Day. It’ll be an unseasonably warm Christmas Eve, that’s for sure: We start the day in the upper 40s to around 50° before warming to around 70° in the afternoon. The normal high for December 24 is 61°, while the low is typically closer to 41°. No records will be threatened, though: the record high of 80° set in 2015 remains safe.
The sky will generally feature a mix of sun and clouds. There is a small possibility a few showers could try to sneak onshore, so if you’re out at the coast or very nearby, don’t be surprised to get a light shower or two as a coastal trough develops. However, much of us will remain rain-free throughout the day and overnight, so there are no significant concerns for a certain sleigh aviator as he makes his rounds in our neck of the woods.
A warming trend continues for Friday as we head into Christmas weekend. We’ll get off to a warmer start — though it’ll still be in the mid-to-upper 30s — than we did on Thursday, which dipped back into the upper 20s. Temperatures Friday afternoon should once again head to the low-to-mid-60s with a mix of sunshine and high cloud cover as high pressure continues to be the main weather feature at the surface and aloft.
We have another chilly day ahead Thursday as we’ll once again start the day below freezing, though perhaps not to the degree we saw across the area Wednesday morning, when Charleston International Airport dropped to 27°, the coldest temperature this year and the coldest it’s been since December 28, 2022.
A warming trend will commence Thursday as highs head to the upper 50s under partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies as ridging moves overhead. While you’ll still want a jacket, it might not need to be as heavy!
Generally quiet weather continues through the rest of the week as high pressure remains the prominent feature at the surface and aloft. A chilly night lies ahead Tuesday into Wednesday morning, with temperatures dipping into the 20s across much of the area away from the beaches and downwind from Lake Moultrie. Make sure plants are covered and pets are inside. Temperatures warm to the low 50s — a few degrees warmer than Tuesday’s high of 51° — with mostly sunny skies featuring some transient high clouds at times.
Thursday gets off to another sub-freezing start, but the warming trend becomes more pronounced as ridging aloft strengthens further. Expect highs on Thursday to top out around 60°, once again under partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies.
Friday will still get off to a chilly start in the mid-30s, though most of us should stay above freezing as the airmass continues to modify. Highs on Friday get to the low 60s under partly cloudy skies as mid- and high-level clouds continue to move by.
A cold front will swing through overnight, yielding a much chillier start on Tuesday as temperatures dip down to around freezing away from the coast and downtown. Breezy northwest-to-north winds will make it feel even colder, too, with morning wind chills dipping to the mid-20s across the area. Cold advection will continue throughout the day, and despite full sunshine, northerly winds will likely keep temperatures from heading above 50° in most locations.
