We in the Charleston weather community continue to watch Thursday evening and overnight carefully for the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms with damaging straight-line winds and perhaps a tornado or two as a cold front pushes eastward.

We in #chswx continue to carefully watch a line of thunderstorms to our west as it presses toward the coast tonight. Satellite and radar reflectivity increasingly show the line weakening as it approaches the area, which is expected as the parent storm system lifts into the Northeast, taking the best dynamics with it. However, there is some elevated instability in place, and with strong winds a couple thousand feet off the deck, we could still see some showers produce some gusty winds if they hold up to the coast. Rumbles of thunder can’t be ruled out either, especially around I-95. While the severe weather threat is marginal, it is non-zero, so a couple downed trees cannot be totally ruled out.

Temperatures will remain rather warm tonight, only bottoming out in the mid-60s Sunday morning as strong southwesterly winds aloft continue to pump in warm air from the Gulf of Mexico.

We will need to keep an eye on the weather this weekend as a couple rounds of strong to severe storms will be possible, particularly Sunday, as the upper-level ridge which has been squelching a lot of thunderstorm activity slides offshore.

UPDATE: The tornado watch has been canceled.

Charleston is under the gun for potentially strong to severe thunderstorms today as a strong cold front, aided by vigorous winds aloft, approaches the area.

Expect a squall line with damaging wind gusts, isolated embedded tornadoes, and hail to come through the area later this afternoon into early evening. Timing for this event will be a little later in the afternoon; suspect anytime after 2PM will be tricky if thunderstorms do not erupt ahead of the line. This will almost certainly have impacts on the evening commute, particularly for those of you trying to get a head start on Easter travel.

Friday is an important day to watch in the weather department as there is good model agreement that a storm system will be affecting the area during the day, driving a squall line into the area by afternoon. Gusty winds, hail, coastal flooding, heavy rain, and perhaps even a tornado will be possible. Let’s take a look at some of the issues we may encounter.

Spring has come into full swing here in the Lowcountry. After what was a fortunate severe weather non-event on Sunday, we had a much cooler and less humid Monday with highs topping out around 74° under plenty of sunshine. We get a repeat of that today as high pressure maintains control over our weather today through Thursday. Our next storm threat comes Friday, and may bring some strong winds to the area. Let’s dive in…

We have a potentially busy weather day in store today as a strong cold front — which has been responsible for several strong, damaging tornadoes in Texas and Mississippi — cuts its way across the Southeast toward our area tonight.

More drought relief is on the way for Monday as energy from a storm system makes its approach to the Lowcountry. This beneficial rain may come with a few strong wind gusts, though.

After a couple rather cold days, temperatures will start to make a comeback closer to (and eventually above) normal as we head into the weekend.

We’re off to a very chilly start this morning in the Lowcountry as Arctic air has once again taken residence in the eastern half of the country. But as it goes in March, just wait five minutes and it’ll change.