Will SC get freezing winter weather or rain on Christmas? What Farmers Almanac and NWS predict
Didn’t we just celebrate Thanksgiving?
Believe it or not, but Christmas is just a week away. And that means it’s time to buy and wrap those last-minute gifts and make sure you have all the food you plan to prepare for the big Christmas meal.
And for many, there are preparations to be made for travel.
But while you’ve been getting everything lined up for a visit from Santa, have you thought about preparing for adverse weather that you may encounter over the Christmas holiday weekend?
Fortunately as of Monday, it seems this Christmas travel weekend for South Carolinians will be a mostly uneventful, tolerable one as far as weather is concerned. Here’s what to know.
NWS Christmas predictions
Brad Carlberg, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in West Columbia, said that from Saturday through Christmas Day on Monday, high temperatures will be “nice and mild” and hover around the 60s.
Also, South Carolina travelers can expect clear skies on Saturday, followed by a 20% chance of rain on Sunday. On Christmas Day, there will be a 40% chance of rain.
Carlberg noted that any rain that South Carolina does get on Christmas will be typical showers, not the heavy, persistent rain the state experienced last weekend.
“It doesn’t look like there will be a lot going on,” he said.
Farmers Almanac predictions
The extended forecast from the Farmers’ Almanac predicts just lingering precipitation from Christmas Eve through Dec. 27. It adds that another storm may slide north along the Atlantic Seaboard, carrying the threat of more rain for the last few days of December.
Founded in 1818, the Farmers’ Almanac uses a secret formula that includes components such as “sunspot activity, tidal action, the position of the planet,” to predict long-range weather forecasts. The forecasts are typically made two years in advance. Fans of the Farmers’ Almanac have, over the years, calculated that the predictions are accurate 80-85% of the time.
SC December weather so far
Heavy rainfall drenched much of South Carolina on Sunday and even flooded parts of the state like Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
Carlberg said the Columbia area experienced record rainfall on Sunday — 2.2 inches of rain compared to 1.16 inches recorded on the same day in 1888.
Otherwise, December weather has been fairly uneventful for the state, Carberg said.
“It’s been a little bit up and down average temperature-wise,” he said.
