Dewpoints are headed up, and that will bring along a slight chance of thunderstorms for Tuesday afternoon, primarily along and ahead of the seabreeze boundary as it moves inland. We’ll start the day in the low 70s across much of the area before temperatures head into the mid-80s in the afternoon. It won’t be sweltering, but it won’t exactly be fall-like, either.
It’s worth noting that we could see some patchy fog in spots tomorrow morning. Be ready for sudden changes in visibility during the commute, and don’t forget the low beams if you do encounter fog.
After a really nice weekend across the Lowcountry, we’ll get one more day of low humidity for Monday before high pressure weakens and retreats eastward, bringing back a more summer-like feel to the forecast (sans 90° temperatures, at least). Slight storm chances begin Tuesday afternoon, with more scattered coverage expected each afternoon through the weekend. Temperatures look to remain generally in the mid-to-upper 80s each afternoon, with lows rising into the low to mid-70s starting Tuesday.
We have a soggy Thursday coming up as Tropical Storm Mindy, which was named and made landfall on the Florida Panhandle in the space of four hours earlier this evening, moves to our south, bringing along a tropical airmass that will help squeeze out quite a bit of rain particularly in the morning. High tide at 10:19 AM will be of particular interest as high-resolution models strongly suggest that heavy rain will be in the area ahead of and around that time. This could spell a flooding concern for downtown Charleston depending on where the heaviest rain sets up. Be cautious during tomorrow morning’s commute, and be ready to use alternate routes.
The heaviest rain will fall in the morning, but there will be the risk of showers and thunderstorms through the evening as a cold front will move through the area. Once that front’s through, though, we’ll be set up for a nice weekend. Meanwhile, Mindy will be shooed away from the area along the aforementioned cold front, and there are no additional tropical concerns of note for now.
Temperatures will top out just in the low 80s thanks to the prevalent cloud cover and rainfall, well below early September norms. As we head into Friday and the weekend, temperatures will continue to run a little below normal — another taste of fall as we head deeper into September.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms will once again figure into the forecast for Wednesday. An approaching cold front as well as some upper-level help in the form of a trough will contribute to scattered to numerous storms in the afternoon and evening hours. Brief bouts of heavy rain will be possible, and a few storms could get gusty, but severe weather appears unlikely.
We’ll get off to another muggy start with mid-70s lows. Expect mid to upper 80s until storms get going in the afternoon. Mix in the humidity and it will feel closer to the upper 90s.
Finally, we will want to keep an eye on water levels around the 10:12 PM high tide for the potential for some minor salt water flooding as water levels could get near 7’. We might have some rain in the area around that time, too. Thus, time of high tide will merit close watch.
On balance, the week ahead actually looks pretty good. Rain-free but warm conditions (highs ~90°) continue Monday and Tuesday as the ridge of high pressure remains in place across the region. By Wednesday, a cold front and a slug of moisture at least partially sourced from the remnants of Hurricane Ida push southward across the area, scattering showers and thunderstorms across the metro area. The front should clear the area by Thursday, yielding partly cloudy skies and somewhat cooler temperatures with less humidity as we head into the weekend — the first weekend of meteorological fall, which runs from September 1-November 30.
High pressure will continue its influence on our weather as we head into the final weekend of August. Temperatures look to remain in the upper 80s to around 90° each afternoon with warm starts in the mid-70s away from the coastline, where temperatures continue to struggle to get below 80° each morning. The aforementioned high pressure will act to keep shower and thunderstorm activity to a minimum through the weekend, certainly welcomed considering how soggy of an August we’ve had.
High pressure will also keep Tropical Storm Ida, forecast to become a hurricane as it approaches the central Gulf Coast this weekend, out of our hair. Unfortunately, it looks to be another direct strike on Louisiana, an area that is very tropical-cyclone weary after the numerous storms it dealt with last season. If you have friends or family there (as well as in coastal Mississippi and Alabama), please make sure they understand that time is of the essence to prepare as tropical storm-force winds could begin as soon as Saturday evening along the coast. Ida is forecast to make landfall sometime Sunday evening along the Louisiana coast. From there, its moisture may get caught up in a frontal system and help provide the juice for another round of wet weather here next week.
For now, though, enjoy a relatively quiet weekend of weather in our neck of the world.
We’ll remain in a somewhat unsettled regime of afternoon showers and thunderstorms each day this week as tropical moisture continues to hang tough in the Lowcountry. Temperatures will generally top out in the upper 80s to around 90° each day. Mix in the humidity and it’ll feel closer to 100°. Not everyone will see rain every day, nor will it rain all the time, but you’ll want to keep a close eye on the weather if you have outdoor plans this week.
Taking a look at the numbers, it’s been a very, very soggy August. 10.83″ of rain at the airport — including August 15’s 4.08″ deluge — is good for fourth wettest to date (as of August 21). Only 1940, 1969, and 1974 have seen wetter starts to the month. We’re a few well-placed downpours away from making a decent run at August 1940’s monthly record of 17.24″ with ten days to go (including whatever falls between the trace of rain at 5PM through the end of the day).
If there’s one bit of good news, though, it’s that the tropics are largely quiet. Henri made landfall in New England earlier today, and with that, there are no named storms in the Atlantic basin. NHC is keeping an eye on an area of disturbed weather near the Cabo Verde Islands, but as of this writing only gives this disturbance a 10% chance of development over the next five days. Otherwise, a round of Saharan dust is going to help keep things at bay a little bit for at least the next few days — suffice to say, we will take whatever break we can get from the tropics in late August. The climatological peak of the season arrives September 10.
Fred may be long-gone, but its tropical moisture continues to linger across the Lowcountry for another day, making for another round of stifling heat for Thursday. Temperatures will head into the low 90s; combine this with heinous dewpoints in the upper 70s, and that will yield heat indices around 105°. This is getting to the point where heat stroke becomes a real possibility, so be sure to take plenty of breaks in the shade and get plenty of hydration if you must be outside in the heat of the day.
Some will see relief through showers and thunderstorms. In fact, there is a small chance of storms once again in the morning if the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model has anything to say about it, so we’ll want to watch that trend. Otherwise, we should see another round of scattered afternoon thunderstorms as the heating of the day kicks in and the seabreeze makes its trek. Once again, storm motions won’t be terribly fast, and with precipitable water values at or over 2”, flooding certainly cannot be ruled out in spots.
Fred continues to move northward across the western Carolinas this evening, bringing quite a ruckus including significant flash flooding in the NC mountains and several tornadoes. For our part of the Lowcountry, heavy rain has been the story. Heavy rainfall closed roads this morning in parts of downtown Charleston, while a stationary downpour within a rain band produced a radar-estimated 5-5.5” of rain across Ravenel and Hollywood.
As we get into Wednesday, Fred’s remnants will become long-gone, but its legacy of deep tropical moisture will remain. An airmass characterized by surface dewpoints in the upper 70s will linger, keeping things rather humid across the region. Heat indices look to top out in the low 100s despite the fact we may not even crack 90° tomorrow.
We may start the day with heavy downpours near the coast. High-resolution models have had a pretty consistent signal that lingering banding features from departing Fred may help kick off a few showers and thunderstorms during the morning hours, which might have impacts on the commute. Afterward, high pressure aloft will increasingly reassert itself, which indicates generally scattered showers and thunderstorms developing on the seabreeze in the afternoon. Storm motions will be slow and largely driven by the inland progression of the seabreeze, so pockets of very heavy rain cannot be discounted. Otherwise, though, there will indeed be a mix of sun and clouds, so it won’t be total gloom like we’ve seen the past day or two.
Our soggy summer rolls on with the return of widespread showers and thunderstorms for the first part of the week, particularly as Tropical Storm Fred makes landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast sometime tomorrow and moves northward through western GA into TN. While we won’t see direct impacts from Fred, we are certainly going to be within a plume of deep tropical moisture for the next several days, and this will lead to heavy downpours as a result. Models certainly suggest Tuesday as the wettest day as Fred lumbers up the AL/GA line. A few more inches of rain will certainly be possible, especially in isolated spots where the heaviest downpours occur. We’ll need to keep a close eye out for flooding issues, especially if heavy rain occurs near high tide downtown. The rainfall will keep temperatures in the mid-80s through Wednesday.
As we get into Thursday, Fred’s remnants will be out of the way and we look to begin to return to a somewhat more normal afternoon thunderstorm pattern heading into the weekend. Temperatures will respond by heading back to around 90° each afternoon before thunderstorms fire up.
