The warm spell peaks on Friday before a cold front affects the area over the weekend. The first 80° day of 2026 is not out of the question on Friday, though a scattering of showers will potentially put a damper on that possibility, especially heading into the afternoon. Like the past couple days, another breezy day looks to be on tap as well, with winds gusting 25-30 MPH at times as the heating of the day helps tap into somewhat stronger winds aloft. As for showers, they aren’t out of the question really at any point in the day, though coverage should increase a bit getting later into the afternoon as the cold front stalls out across the Upstate and Midlands. Not expecting too much in the way of rainfall amounts on Friday, though some brief downpours aren’t out of the question, especially inland from the coast where a little more instability may exist.
We’ll see more in the way of cloud cover and maybe even a few showers on Thursday, but that won’t stop temperatures from getting back to the mid-70s after a warm-for-February start in the mid-50s. Deep southwesterly flow will continue to pump warm and moist air into the area, and as temperatures warm into the 70s, this could spawn a few popup showers (not something we often say in February!) along with gusts around 20-25 MPH.
Another quiet and generally seasonably pleasant day is head on Friday. We get off to a bit of a chilly start as lows fall to the mid-to-upper 30s in the morning. A northeasterly breeze will make it feel closer to freezing to start the day, but temperatures will warm to around 60° in the afternoon under predominantly sunny skies. This is a few degrees below mid-February norms, but nothing too outrageous.
After a front gets through overnight, we’ll turn cooler for Thursday as temperatures head ever-so-slightly below normal. We’ll start Thursday in the upper 30s to around 40°, warming to the low 60s in the afternoon under predominantly sunny skies. While not quite the 70s, it’ll still be a solid mid-February day in the Lowcountry.
Sunshine returns as we head into the first full weekend of February, but we’ve got a few more days of below-normal temperatures before some relief arrives next week.
After some much-needed rain Wednesday, Thursday will be a much cooler day as a cold front moves by. Some showers may linger in the morning, but otherwise we can expect a mostly cloudy day with some peeks of sun from time to time. Expect temperatures to start in the mid-to-upper 30s, warming to just the mid-40s in the afternoon given the cloud cover and cooler air blowing in from the north.
A cold and snowy weekend lies ahead as the storm we in the weather enterprise have been watching closely for the last several days in guidance looks to become a reality for a pretty solid winter weather event for this neck of the woods on Saturday followed by bitterly cold temperatures on Sunday. A Winter Storm Watch and Extreme Cold Watch have been issued by the National Weather Service for much of the weekend, so that’s how you know it’s getting real.
Another chilly day lies ahead for Thursday as a dry cold front slides southward across the area, reinforcing the cooler airmass that’s been in place for much of this past week so far. Temperatures will start in the upper 20s to around 30° for yet another subfreezing start this week. We’ll see some clouds at times, with greater cloud cover expected as we get into the evening, but otherwise there should be plenty of sunshine. Despite the sun, though, the reinforcing shot of cooler air keeps highs pinned to the upper 40s to around 50°.
After a high of 72° on Thursday, we’ll turn progressively cooler heading into the weekend as a large storm system affects much of the southern and Mid-Atlantic states over the next few days. Fortunately, the risk for accumulating ice continues to decrease into oblivion for much of the Charleston metro area.
Thursday looks like the nicest day we’ll have for a little while before the well-advertised winter storm system impacts the South, followed by a round of Arctic air to kick off next week. Temperatures Wednesday start in the low to mid-40s — a marked increase from the low of 26° at the airport this morning — before warming to the upper 60s to perhaps even around 70° under mostly sunny skies. Enjoy this — as mentioned, things will start getting stormy and chilly by Saturday.