Cooler temps are expected on Wednesday with highs in the lower to middle 50s.  Highs on Thursday will be in the lower to middle 60s.  Not too bad, huh?  Don’t get used to it, big changes are coming Friday night into Saturday.

The very active El Nino pattern continues across the United States and it looks like our good buddy will crank out a whopper of a storm over the next few days.  Rain and wind with mountain snow across the west coast now will head into the Southern Plains by Thursday.  As the system begins to pull moisture into its core from the Gulf of Mexico, widespread rain and thunderstorms will develop to the south of the storm track with significant ice and snow to the north.  It looks like the I-40 corridor from the Plains through Tennessee and into North Carolina could take a lashing from this system with the possibility of major snow and ice accumulations.

Based off of the latest guidance, the storm looks to move right on top of the Lowcountry or just to our south which will likely keep us in the colder air.  I know we are going to see rain, and we could see quite a bit (perhaps 1-3”), but I am a little more uncertain about the temperature forecast.  My gut feeling on this one has me leaning toward a cold, heavy rain developing Friday into Saturday, but any slight deviation in the track of the storm could dictate whether we see 40s Friday night and Saturday or 60s.  Either way, it will get colder Saturday night into Sunday as an Arctic air mass moves into the region.

If anyone has travel plans to the upstate or western NC this weekend, stay up to date on the latest information.  Current trends suggest a major winter storm could occur across portions of northwest SC and western NC.