Well, here we are getting into the weekend with another storm system primed to affect the area. Overcast skies will be the rule for much of Friday as showers develop in the afternoon on the periphery of offshore low pressure. Temperatures will only top out around 50-51° given the lack of sunshine and northerly component to the wind.

As we get into the overnight hours Friday into Saturday morning, showers could give way to some snow flurries as colder air punches into the area. I always urge caution with cold-chasing-moisture scenarios like the one we will find ourselves in, but as an upper low traverses the area on the heels of the surface low pressure system moving northeast, it’s certainly conceivable that parts of the Tri-County, especially along and north of a Summerville-Moncks Corner-Jamestown line, could see a period of snow. Flurries will be possible all the way to the coast and perhaps as far south as Edisto as we get toward daybreak Saturday. Accumulations, if any, will be quite light and confined to grassy surfaces, and travel disruptions are not expected. And yes, folks — there will be no ice.

While the risk for snow is still quite conditional (and, to be fair, may not fully pan out), the certainty in the forecast is another shot of Arctic air that will turn this weekend frigid. Temperatures will struggle into the low 40s on Saturday afternoon despite cloud cover scouring out, producing clear skies by the afternoon. Sunday morning is setting up to rival the coldest of the season with lows in the low 20s expected in the Charleston metro area. This is potentially pipe-busting cold, and you’ll need to make sure that pets, plants, pipes, and people are safe and sound Saturday night into Sunday morning. Any bit of light wind could bring the wind chill factor into the upper teens on Sunday morning, too. We’ll keep plenty of sun in the forecast for Sunday, but even then, highs will likely not crack 50°.

The good news is that we begin a sharp warming trend on Monday. As we get into later in the new work week, we may even flirt with 70° for a time. With that in mind, though, the large scale pattern continues to favor generally cooler-than-normal conditions in the eastern half of the US, so don’t change out the wardrobe at the first sign of upper 60s just yet.

We remain chilly for the rest of the week with below-normal temperatures persisting, but this will feel warm compared to what we’ve got coming for the weekend.

First, though, we’ve got to get through the work week. A cold front comes through early tomorrow, helping to clear out the cloud cover and sprinkles we saw today. Cold air moving in behind said front will keep high temperatures suppressed into the mid-50s despite the increasing sunshine.

Cold air will continue to blow into the area on Thursday, allowing air temperatures to drop below freezing and morning wind chills to bottom out near 20°. It’ll be a good day to layer up; 52° isn’t terribly warm still, but it will certainly feel better than a feels-like temperature of 21° in the morning.

High pressure will then begin to give way to low pressure developing somewhere off the Southeast coast on Friday. This will help generate some scattered showers throughout the day into early Saturday before the low pressure system moves away from the area, potentially bringing quite a snowstorm to the Northeast before it’s all said and done. Said low pressure will drive a sharp cold front through, and lead to weekend highs in the 40s and a very chilly Sunday morning of low 20s.

Here’s a little weather whiplash for you: We got to 73° today at the airport. Tomorrow, we won’t even reach 40°.

A cold front is sinking steadily southward in our direction this evening, which will allow a wedge of Arctic high pressure to steadily build in from the north as we get into Friday. We’ll start the day in the mid-30s, warm up to the upper 30s, and then temperatures fall below freezing in the afternoon, all while light rain blankets the area. As the freezing line moves southward, so will the changeover to freezing rain, generally on elevated surfaces (including bridges and overpasses.) This freezing rain threat will arrive by Friday evening and stick around through early Saturday before low pressure departs and brings the stalled front with it.

It was a weird Saturday. (More on that in a minute.) Fortunately, Sunday will restore order to the forecast as clouds dissipate overnight in response to high pressure building back into the area. Despite full, unencumbered sunshine, we’ll stay quite chilly tomorrow, with the high of 57° coming in well under the normal of 68° for this point in March. Frost and even a light freeze will be possible overnight Sunday into Monday, too, so be ready to protect plants and pets.

But yes, no surprise rain or ice pellets. For real this time. And thankfully (for our psyches, anyway), we look predominantly dry well into next week and perhaps beyond.

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.

I’ve received a few questions around the potential for snow on Tuesday night based on the output from a prominent weather app which will remain unnamed. Long story short: I wouldn’t bet on it.

To say 2018 was an interesting (and at times baffling) year in weather in Charleston is really selling it short. It just about had it all: Snow, tropical threats, frigid cold, sweltering heat, rainfall, and (of course!) flooding.

Over the next few days, I’ll be looking back at 2018’s key weather events and trends. Today, we start with the most epic weather event of 2018: The January 3rd winter storm.