After a cold front gets through tonight, we’ll see another round of cooler and drier air move into the area to set up a fantastic finish to the work week. Temperatures will run around 10° cooler tomorrow afternoon with plenty of sunshine — an excellent day for outdoor lunch, getting some walking in, or however you wish to be outside. This continues into Thursday, which will be another brilliantly beautiful day with highs once again topping out in the mid-70s. We’ll start to see a little bit of a warming trend commence on Friday as high pressure moves offshore, sending winds more southerly. Still, it’ll be another really nice day with lows in the mid-50s and highs in the upper 70s. The warming trend continues into the weekend, with highs in the low 80s on Saturday and in the mid-80s on Sunday. Enjoy!
No complaints in this forecast: Plenty of sun will continue as temperatures embark on a warming trend as the work week progresses. Temperatures on Wednesday will start out rather chilly by April standards, dipping into the low 40s in the metro and possibly into the upper 30s further north into rural locations. Not expecting frost to become an issue, though. After a high of 68° today, highs will top out a touch warmer, likely around 70°. Skies will be mostly sunny once again, belying the cool airmass which remains in place.
A warming trend then commences on Thursday as high pressure slips a bit offshore. This will bump highs into the mid-70s, much closer to where we typically find ourselves in mid-April. There will be a few more clouds with moisture coming in off the Atlantic, but that will just make the skies a little more interesting to look at. High pressure retreats back to the west a little bit for Friday, clearing skies a bit. More notably, though, we’ll see high pressure begin to stack aloft, allowing for temperatures to warm even more noticeably into the upper 70s to around 80° for Friday.
The great weather continues into the weekend, too, with highs topping out in the low 80s each afternoon as high pressure remains the dominant feature at the surface and aloft. It’s great to be able to say that there are absolutely no weather concerns for High Water Fest this year! (Well, other than that you’ll definitely want sunscreen.)
Warmer-than-normal conditions continue this week despite a weak front poking into the area on Friday. Temperatures will generally run in the low 80s Wednesday and Thursday, with slightly cooler and drier air on Friday behind the front.
Said front will usher in some shower and storm chances starting Thursday afternoon. The best chances of showers and storms will arrive overnight Thursday into Friday with the frontal passage. The front will stall out nearby on Friday, perhaps keeping a shower or storm chance in play across the Charleston metro during the day.
The severe weather threat looks very low and, at least as of right now, should stay generally west of I-95. Will keep an eye on it, but the ingredients look incredibly marginal. (I don’t think anyone’s complaining about this, either.) With the area remaining in drought even after last week’s rains, we’ll take what we can get — bonus points if it arrives without severe weather.
Peeking ahead toward the weekend, unsettled weather does continue to appear probable, but the models are disagreeing quite a bit on the details still. Temperatures should remain on the warm side of normal, though, through the weekend. Stay tuned as the forecast becomes more fine-tuned.
A warm front will lift north across the Lowcountry on Wednesday, putting an end to this stretch of below-normal temperatures and getting us in the warm sector of the next storm system which will affect the area Thursday before clearing the area Friday morning, yielding a docile finish to the work week.
Up-and-down weather will finish out the work week with a nearly equal mix of nice and unsettled mixed in.
Wednesday will be the stormiest day of the set as surface low pressure and its parent upper low continue to rumble eastward into the area. Expect numerous showers and thunderstorms for a good bit of the day on Wednesday. One thing we’ll want to watch is if any instability can develop; if so, wind shear will be enough to support some strong to severe thunderstorms across the area. With rain in the area, highs should top out around 70° at best, which will put a governor on any severe threat that might materialize.
The storm system departs overnight Wednesday, and by Thursday, we clear out a bit, allowing for good sunshine and comfortable temperatures in the mid-70s in the afternoon. Should be a nice day to get out and about for lunch!
Friday starts out fairly nice as well — mid-50s for lows remain well above normal for this point in the year — before cloud cover increases ahead of another cold front. Showers could work into the area as early as the afternoon and evening hours, but the best risk of rain from this next storm system will be in the area for Saturday. Sunday, though, looks good with comfortable temperatures and ample sunshine.
After topping out around 70° today, temperatures will aim ever warmer for Wednesday and Thursday before a dry cold front knocks temperatures down a bit for Friday. Mostly sunny skies will be the rule throughout, and with winds more out of the west, the risk for coastal flooding will decrease, too. Weather looks to get even warmer as we get into the weekend, too, with rain chances maybe returning to the forecast next Tuesday.
We’re getting close to the last freeze dates of the season (the median last freeze at North Charleston is March 8), but we can still have bouts of freezing temperatures well into early April, so be cautious if you begin planting. To that end, though, the National Weather Service has restarted the frost and freeze program as of today, which means Frost Advisories and Freeze Warnings will once again be issued by the NWS office when conditions become questionable for vegetation. If those end up being needed at any point, I’ll pass them on.
After topping out in the upper 70s today, we’ll likely see temperatures breach 80° for the second time this year on Wednesday away from the cooler coastline as southerly flow around Atlantic high pressure keeps a very mid-spring-like feel to our weather in place. The temperature difference between the coast and just 10 miles inland could be pretty abrupt — highs may struggle to 70° at the beaches — thanks to the cooler nearby shelf waters and the potential for sea fog (more on that in a second). This pattern stays in place through Friday before a front swings through and cools us off quite significantly for the weekend.
One fly in the ointment will certainly be the potential for sea fog given such warm air over relatively chilly shelf waters. Short-term high-resolution guidance is in decent agreement that a sea fog bank could creep up the coast throughout the day Wednesday, lowering visibilities at the beaches and keeping temperatures some 10-15° cooler where fog hangs around. Southwesterly winds look to keep fog from penetrating too far inland, but that’s something we’ll keep an eye on as well for potential travel impacts. Sea fog will remain a bit of a wild card in the forecast through the end of the week, so stay tuned for tweaks.
The rest of the work week will feature ever-warmer temperatures as a cold front approaches the area. Wednesday will be our last largely rain-free day, though, as shower chances enter the forecast for Thursday afternoon as the front gets closer. We could even hear some rumbles of thunder overnight Thursday into Friday morning. We’ll keep shower chances around for Friday, but peep those highs: mid-70s on Thursday and Friday. It’s been a while since we had a SEWE start out that warm, that’s for sure. Once the front is through sometime Friday evening, temperatures will calm down to more seasonable low-to-mid-60s highs for the weekend with a rain-free forecast expected.
After a couple really dreary days across the Lowcountry, we will finish the balance of the work week with much more sunshine as high pressure builds into the area from the southwest. This’ll not only help clear us out, but the westerly winds will help temperatures moderate as well, with temperatures heading a few degrees above normal to close out the week.
Wednesday may start with some patches of dense fog across the area, with a better risk of fog found inland of 17-A. We’ll want to watch surface temperatures closely, as some spots well inland could be at risk of some freezing fog overnight into tomorrow morning, potentially producing some slick spots on bridges and overpasses near the I-95 corridor. This does not appear to be a concern for Charleston proper, though. If they do form, any slick spots will not last terribly long after sunrise as temperatures quickly head into the 50s before peaking in the low 60s in the afternoon.
From there, the airmass will continue to moderate, allowing for highs in the mid-60s on Thursday and the upper 60s on Friday under mostly sunny skies. We’ll start those days generally around 40°, too, which is right around normal for this point in the year. All in all, not too shabby to close out the work week. Looks like we get Saturday in rain-free, too, but with a few more clouds before rain chances kick back up Sunday as a frontal system moves by.
Our warming trend continues as we head toward Friday before a cold front gets by and knocks Saturday back to normal. Wednesday features partly cloudy skies and highs topping out in the mid-60s, while we go even warmer on Thursday — low 70s for highs! — despite increasing cloud cover as the cold front draws nearer. By Friday, we stay in the 70s, but expect showers to begin to develop and move across the area ahead of said front. We turn much cooler for the weekend behind the front, and will likely stay unsettled pending the development of a coastal low that will head northeastward, keeping rain chances in our forecast into the new work week.
