South Carolina continues to experience a string of unusually cold weather, with the Myrtle Beach area potentially seeing up to 12 inches of snow.
The National Weather Service has placed all of Horry County and surrounding counties under a winter storm watch and an extreme cold watch. In a briefing Thursday, the National Weather Service expressed a high degree of confidence that a rare wind chill will sweep through the region over the weekend, along with some snow.
Dangerously cold temperatures are expected to bring wind chills down to the single digits Saturday and Sunday night. Confidence for significant snowfall in the region continued to grow across the region Thursday. Snowfall is expected to be dry and powdery, which, combined with frequent strong winds en route, could create particularly hazardous travel conditions.
“This is a very fascinating, interesting and rare event for the Carolinas,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Ian Boatman. The boatman explained that to make snow, two “ingredients” are needed: moisture and icy air. Typically, when winter arrives, one of these conditions occurs in the Carolinas, but not the other.
“This time, we have the perfect setup,” Boatman said.
The weather service predicts that some of the coldest Arctic air recorded this winter will begin moving into the region on Friday and continue into early next week. Wind chills in the single digits and dangerously low temperatures will also occur Saturday and Sunday night.
Over the weekend, a low pressure system is expected to develop offshore, causing severe winter storms in the Carolinas on Saturday and Sunday. Snow will be the predominant type of precipitation, but how much remains uncertain.
Myrtle Beach Snow Forecast
The Myrtle Beach area could see up to 2 inches of snow from Thursday through Sunday, according to the weather service’s lowest forecast. But at the high end, it can go up to 12 inches. The change is related to the amount of dry air moving into the area over the weekend. More dry air means a lower total, less dry air means a higher total. As of Thursday morning, Boatman said the official snow forecast for Myrtle Beach is 3 inches, “but there are nuances.”
Boaters explained that somewhere in southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina, “fog-like moisture” will develop, causing local snowfall totals to rise. But it’s difficult to determine exactly where the mist will land.
Snowfall could begin as early as Saturday morning, but most of the snow is expected to fall late Saturday into Sunday morning and then stop quickly.
Anticipated hazardous travel conditions
According to the weather service, travel will be very dangerous from Saturday night into Monday morning and it is recommended to avoid travel if possible. There will also be very strong winds Saturday afternoon into Sunday, with wind speeds around 25 to 35 mph.
Some flooding of low lying roads and adjacent tidal creeks is possible during the morning and evening high tide cycles on Saturday and Sunday. Dangerous surf conditions will occur Saturday through Sunday.
Of Carolina, Boatman said “this is an event you’ll remember.”