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.
After record-breaking cold on Christmas Eve, we have another round of cold — but perhaps not quite as cold — weather for Christmas Day.
We begin the day with another Wind Chill Advisory as another round of low teens wind chills is forecast across the area. Air temperatures will drop to around 20°, with another dip into the teens possible further inland as well as in more rural areas. The good news is that after what should amount to about 40 consecutive hours below freezing, we will finally exceed the melting point by early afternoon, which will give us some much-needed thaw time. Skies will be mostly clear throughout the day, and at least some unfiltered sunshine will help it feel not as bitterly cold as it was on Saturday, though wind chills will still, at best, run in the low 30s.
Christmas weekend has arrived, and so has that unreal shot of Arctic air. Temperatures peaked around 56° at 8:49am just before the front passed by the airport. From there, temperatures have been steadily dropping throughout the day as dewpoints headed into the low single digits, making for a very dry feel to the air.
Details are coming into focus around what will be quite a strong storm for the Eastern Seaboard for Christmas Eve. Model guidance is in unanimous agreement for a strong band of showers and thunderstorms ahead of the cold front that could produce occasional damaging wind gusts during the afternoon and early evening hours. The good news is that this activity should get out of here by the time Santa is ready to make his rounds in the Lowcountry.
Wednesday will be the last rain-free shopping day before Christmas. Cloud cover will be filling in as the day goes on ahead of what looks to be a fairly potent storm system for Christmas Eve. Temperatures around the area will start out chilly — low 40s, with wind chills around 37-38° possible with a light breeze — before warming into the mid-60s despite the cloud cover. A shower or two can’t be ruled out closer to midnight Wednesday as well.
We have a rather gorgeous Tuesday ahead as high pressure moves along to our northeast. Downslope flow will continue, allowing temperatures to warm back into the low 60s for the afternoon after starting out in the low 40s under full sunshine.
We’ll start the last few days before Christmas a little warmer than we have been of late, but Santa has cold high pressure for us for Christmas and beyond as we get into the holiday weekend.
