We will be closing January with another Arctic cold snap making its way across the eastern half of the U.S. We won’t be immune from this cold snap, but it will not be a terribly severe or long-lasting cold for us in Charleston.

I’ve received a few questions around the potential for snow on Tuesday night based on the output from a prominent weather app which will remain unnamed. Long story short: I wouldn’t bet on it.

After a rainy and windy start to Thursday, we’ll settle in to a cool and mostly sunny weekend with high pressure firmly in control of our weather.

The temperature rollercoaster rides on. This morning, we were in the 20s in many spots in the Lowcountry, but as winds begin to turn more easterly and then southerly, the warm air (and moisture) pump will be back in place for a couple days. (We’re already up to the low 50s as of 1PM.) This will be followed by a more prolonged period of below-normal temperatures after a frontal passage Friday.

Buckle up: We’ve got quite a temperature rollercoaster (and an unsettled pattern in general) headed our way over the next couple weeks.

The latter half of January looks to usher in a more unsettled pattern that seems reminiscent of December, at least in its timing: Unsettled weekends followed by mostly dry (and occasionally chilly) work weeks. Indeed, that’s how this week looks to go down.

We’ve been fortunate to catch a bit of a break from the wet weather over the last few days. Unfortunately, this respite looks to come to an end this weekend as a storm system approaches from the west.

I hope everybody enjoyed this absolutely fantastic weekend of weather. Our stretch of dry weather should continue through the rest of the work week before unsettled conditions return to the forecast for the weekend.

Despite January’s frigid start, 2018 landed within the top-five warmest years on record at the airport, tying 1998 with an average temperature of 67.9°. This is the fourth consecutive year that average temperatures have landed within the top five warmest on record. 1990 still reigns supreme, though, as the warmest recorded year with an average temperature of 69.3°.

Data for this post is sourced from a compilation of records by the Southeast Regional Climate Center as well as the National Weather Service forecast office in Charleston, SC. Records at the North Charleston climate site begin in 1938.

2018 was highly irregular in one fairly beneficial way: There was an overall lack of severe weather (at least as far as tornadoes, straight-line damaging winds, and hail go) during the year.