Another dry front will come through overnight with a reinforcing shot of cooler air for our neck of the woods, but at least we won’t be starting the day with freezing fog like we did this morning. Freezing fog occurs when fog develops at temperatures below freezing, producing a glaze of ice on surfaces it comes into contact with (generally elevated surfaces). This morning, temperatures fell to the dewpoint of 28°, which aided in its formation and caused quite a few problems on bridges and overpasses, with numerous traffic accidents and closure of both the Don Holt and North Bridges. Freezing fog is incredibly, incredibly rare for this part of the world — in fact, this morning’s Freezing Fog Advisory was the first ever issued for the Charleston metro area, and only the second issued by NWS Charleston, SC (the first one was issued in 2022).
Thankfully, we will not deal with this Thursday morning as temperatures are expected to stay above freezing, generally running in the upper 30s to around 40°. The aforementioned dry front comes through early in the day, and this helps usher in another shot of cooler air that’ll keep things breezy and chilly Thursday afternoon, with highs only reaching the low 50s despite partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies. Morning wind chills may bottom out in the low 30s, so layer appropriately.
After another cold start on Wednesday, we’ll see temperatures climb a bit, though it’ll still be on the chilly side of normal, especially Thursday as a reinforcing front kicks up the cloud cover a bit.
We’ll finally shed the cloud cover that’s punctuated the last several days on Tuesday as high pressure builds in from the northwest. The aforementioned high pressure will drive even cooler and drier air into the area, and we’ll wake up below freezing as a result away from the coast. The northerly breeze will help drive wind chills down into the low to mid-20s during the morning, so be sure to add a layer or two as you head out for the day. The feed of cooler and drier air continues throughout the day, so even with plenty of sunshine, highs will likely not climb out of the upper 40s.
After a rare dreary weekend, the sun will slowly return to our skies on Monday — generally in fits and starts, with some overcast periods in there as well — before more doggedly reasserting itself on Tuesday as high pressure builds in behind a dry front. After another front and maybe a few showers Friday, temperatures look to plunge for the weekend.
We’ve had some much-needed rain over the past few days, but it’s certainly not made for the best outdoors weather, either. Unfortunately that continues on Sunday, which will decidedly not live up to its name as overcast skies look to persist with a few showers continuing to be possible at times. It won’t be as much rain as we’ve seen over the past couple days with some drier air working in, but there will still be enough moisture to wring out a few more raindrops. Temperatures will remain on the cool side, with lows in the low 40s warming to just the mid-50s in the afternoon at best, making for a sixth consecutive day of highs in the 50s.
This dreary stretch will start to work itself out on Monday, with a front ushering in cool and dry high pressure by Tuesday, which will scour out the clouds. It’ll be chilly still, but we do have a brief warmup into the low 60s for Wednesday and Thursday before cooling right back off for the weekend with another front.
Much-needed rain and below-normal temperatures are in store for the week ahead as a series of fronts affect the area. We’ll also see the risk for some tidal flooding in the mornings beginning Tuesday courtesy of the upcoming full moon.
