Snowpack is heading into its third day here in the Lowcountry, with many roads still a little on the sketchy side and black ice being a concern once again overnight Thursday into Friday morning. It’s kept us on the chilly side, too: the high today hit 40° at the airport, while the high of 38° at downtown Charleston was a record cold high temperature for January 23. We’re already back into the 20s as of this writing (8:45 PM-ish) with temperatures expected to fall into the low 20s given much less cloud cover than last night and the continued snowpack. Winds a little more out of the west should kick in on Friday, though, and we should see highs peak in the mid-40s along with more sunshine than we saw Thursday. Still, melting during the day Friday should once again contribute to a black ice threat overnight into Saturday morning, so keep that in mind if you head out.
With plenty of snowpack still on the ground, expect a very, very cold night that should set daily records on Thursday morning as lows could fall to as low as 15°. Mix in the persistent northerly wind and wind chills may fall into the single digits. If you’re headed outside tomorrow morning, be bundling up in lots of layers and be very careful for re-frozen ice on steps, sidewalks, and roads.
Additional cloud cover on Thursday isn’t gonna do us a lot of good in the melting department; highs should once again only peak in the upper 30s with mostly cloudy skies generally expected. Wind will remain a bit of a factor, and it’ll feel like the 20s for much of the daytime period.
Getting into Thursday night, I’d expect another round of refreezing and black ice concerns. If you don’t have to travel, it’s probably best to stay hunkered in one more day.
Friday will offer one more quiet day before an extended unsettled period kicks in starting this weekend, culminating in possible winter weather for the middle of next week.
We start Thursday in the upper 20s to low 30s across the metro, but temperatures will ultimately end up a few degrees warmer than Wednesday under mostly sunny skies. This will be the second to last day of generally quiet weather before an unsettled period begins this weekend and lasts into next week, which will turn very cold and perhaps somewhat interesting winter weather-wise, too.
Low pressure organizing in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the southern Texas coast, will move east and northeast heading into Friday, bringing snow and ice to the I-85 corridor and an otherwise raw, gross day of cold rain here to the Lowcountry. We start the day in the mid-20s, and recent guidance signals that there is a slight chance of a few snowflakes through about 10am as a band of precipitation moves north across the area, with the best chance of catching a few conversational flurries further inland around I-95, but they won’t last as temperatures at the surface and aloft warm up. No traffic impacts are expected (unless someone gets distracted by a snowflake, anyway). There should be a little bit of a dry slot in the early afternoon before more steady rain moves in from the west along with the low; this will keep us in the rain for much of the mid-to-late afternoon into the overnight. Highs on Friday will crack the low 40s but won’t warm much more, so again, be ready to bundle up and stay that way if you’re headed out. (Honestly, a great night to stay in with soup and a good movie.)
Thursday will be the coldest day of the week as a little reinforcing cool air moves into the area from the north. We start the day in the mid-20s, but the wind will factor in a bit more than the previous couple mornings, driving wind chills down into the teens across even the Charleston metro area. Thus, a Cold Weather Advisory will be in effect until 9am. Despite unfettered sunshine, highs will struggle to the mid-40s in the afternoon, and with the persistent north to northwest winds around 5-10 MPH, it’ll still feel like the upper 30s throughout the day. Layer up accordingly — you’ll be glad you did.
High pressure will be settling into the area overnight into Thursday, and this will drive a mostly sunny but seasonably cool day across the area. Expect lows in the mid-30s (with perhaps some freezing values in rural locations) to start Thursday, warming to just the mid-50s in the afternoon despite all the sunshine. Generally, temperatures will be running a few degrees below early January normals (normal high of 60°, normal low of 39°), but nothing terribly out of bounds.
Temperatures will tumble once again as we head into the weekend as a couple shots of cooler and drier air work their way in. Friday will feature decreasing cloud cover throughout the day as the first round of drier air continues to filter in; expect lows in the upper 40s to around 50° to warm to the mid-60s in the afternoon.
A second, more potent, shot of Arctic air works into the area overnight Friday. We’ll feel it Saturday morning as lows head down into the upper 30s. Ongoing cool advection will keep highs in the low to mid-50s despite plenty of sunshine.
Sunday morning dips below freezing for the first time in a few days, with lows in the upper 20s to around 30° expected away from the coast. Highs will once again struggle and may not make it out of the 40s with more sunshine expected.
A front will pass through overnight Wednesday into Thursday, but we’ll keep cloud cover around and maybe even a shower or two as a trough of low pressure hangs around for one more day. Temperatures will start in the mid-to-upper 50s once again, but we’ll warm to just the mid-60s with the cloud cover and a somewhat cooler and drier airmass working its way in.
