High pressure will assert control of the weather through the weekend. It’ll be chilly out — highs in the low to mid-50s and lows around or below freezing will be common — but the sun will be shining, and that alone is worth celebrating. Have a great weekend, everyone.

A cold air damming regime will remain in place over the weekend, with plentiful moisture and upper-level energy keeping numerous showers in the forecast along with chilly temperatures. This rain will be no joke — NWS is forecasting 1-3″ across the area by Monday morning, with the higher rain totals generally to be found inland of 17. The wedge of cold air nestled between the Appalachians and the Atlantic and its associated persistent overcast will keep temperatures well below normal (62° is the normal high for this time of year).

Despite what some weather apps were showing this time last week, no precipitation type issues are in the forecast this weekend as the core of the coldest air remains well to our north and west.

Showers, overcast, and chilly temperatures will continue on Saturday. The best rain chances will come in the afternoon into Saturday night as some upper-level energy and a surface low pressure system traverse the area. The weather improves Sunday as low pressure moves away from the area, yielding to high pressure building back into the area from the northwest. Cloud cover will scour out, allowing temperatures to rise into the mid-to-upper 50s across the area with ample sunshine throughout the day, giving you a great excuse to skip the 12 hours of Super Bowl pregame shows and get outside for a bit.

There will be an outside shot at some minor coastal flooding very early Sunday morning (high tide ~4:01am) as low pressure deepens off the coast. The current tide forecast peaks around 6.9’, which could be just enough to put some salt water on Hagood Ave. at Fishburne. Given the early hour on a weekend, it should not have major impacts on travel. We remain at five total coastal flooding events (tide levels at or above 7.0’ mean lower low water) so far in 2021.

Get ready for a hard freeze tonight as temperatures plummet into the low-to-mid-20s pretty much everywhere inland of the immediate coast, where temperatures will still likely reach freezing. While winds will die down a little, there will still be enough to send wind chills into the upper teens for Saturday morning. Protect plants, pets, pipes, and people tonight.

Saturday will be another day where temperatures struggle into the mid-40s despite full sunshine. After another freeze Sunday morning, temperatures will begin to moderate, topping out in the mid-50s in the afternoon with plenty of sunshine to continue.

If you want to get outside a bit this weekend and enjoy some legitimate sweater weather, Saturday is the day to do it — we’ll have a mix of sun and clouds with highs topping out in the mid-50s. Rain should hold off until after midnight, with periods of showers in the cards for Sunday. It’ll be a touch warmer despite the rain, but temperatures will continue to run below normal through the last shopping weekend before Christmas.

After a few more showers tonight, a cold front will swing through the area, reinforcing the cooler-than-average temperatures that have punctuated December so far (aside from today’s 70s, anyway). Clouds will scour out quickly in the morning on Saturday, yielding mostly sunny skies with highs in the low 60s as high pressure builds in from the west.

Cloudiness will begin to rebuild into the area on Sunday as a storm system gets together in the Gulf and heads toward Florida. We’ll see temperatures remain a few degrees below normal — generally around 60° — after a chilly start in the upper 30s in the metro area (cooler well inland and in more rural locations). Showers should hold off for much of Sunday, with rain chances beginning to come back into the picture after sunset as the low pressure system approaches Florida, and some overrunning precipitation develops on the northern flank.

While it’d be unfair to characterize the weekend as a washout, we do face periods of unsettled weather as a frontal boundary remains stalled to our south in Georgia and a potent storm system approaches the area from the west.

Saturday morning, expect light rain to move across the area as a wave of low pressure along the stalled front moves from west to east with a little upper-level support to boot. It’s not likely that we’ll see much more than a tenth or two of an inch of rain across the Lowcountry from this round of rain, and it should conclude by early afternoon. We should get at least a few peeks of sun before Saturday’s all said and done, and the evening will remain dry. Temperatures will run a little cooler than previous days, only topping out in the upper 60s.

We’ll start the Friday after Thanksgiving with some showers as a cold front slowly trudges through the area. Once this front is through, rain chances will decrease and we should have a fairly nice afternoon, with temperatures still running well above normal in the mid-70s — though not quite getting to 82° like we did today.

After the last two weekends of agonizing over the potential for severe weather in the Lowcountry, a quiet weekend is more than welcome. There will be slight chance of a shower or storm on Saturday afternoon as a cold front swings through, but moisture return is meager and so just an uptick in cloud cover is expected.

Sunday looks pretty great for a change — partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies with highs topping out right around 80° will make for a much nicer day than we’ve had the past couple Sundays. Take advantage as best as you can given our continued socially-distant circumstances!

While damage surveys continue from this Monday’s tornado outbreak, we begin to look ahead to the upcoming weekend, which may hold another severe weather threat as we roll on into Sunday afternoon and evening.