Hello everyone, Jared Smith here with your Charleston weather forecast for Friday, May 26th, 2023, heading into this Memorial Day weekend.

And we’ll be kicking off this Memorial Day weekend on a quite unsettled note.

Low pressure developing off the southeast coast will move northward, spreading moisture and showers into the area for a good bit of Friday.

The best chance for showers begins on Friday evening, but rain can’t be ruled out at any point throughout the day.

But we will see breaks.

The bigger shock to the system will be the temperatures.

We’ll start the day around 60 degrees, and then expect highs to only top out in the low 70s on Friday.

And that’s going to be well below normal for this point in the year.

Winds are going to be quite an issue as well.

Expect gusts to 30 miles an hour on a regular basis through at least Saturday as the pressure gradient tightens between high pressure wedging inland and the low pressure approaching from offshore.

We expect the bulk of the rain to fall overnight Friday into Saturday morning.

But we’ll keep rain in the forecast throughout the day on Saturday, especially as a cutoff low lumbers through the area.

Winds will continue to be on the gusty side throughout the day, and that’s only going to enhance how downright chilly it will feel.

Now the Weather Service’s forecast high for Saturday is 66 degrees.

And if this verifies, that would tie the record coldest high temperature from May 27th, set in 1988.

Now as we get into Saturday evening, we should see rain take a break as dry air wraps around the low and into the area.

And we’ll also see those winds beginning to back off a little bit as the low moves north of the area, loosening the pressure gradient.

And we’ll have a little bit less in the way of that really blustery wind, and that’ll be good for the rest of the weekend.

Now Sunday could feature some isolated showers at times as that aforementioned upper low continues to hang around.

We’ll continue to see the winds back off some, and we will run 10 degrees warmer than we did on Saturday.

Now that being said, that’s a really low bar to cross.

And keep in mind, that’s going to mean mid to upper 70s, still well below normal for this point in the year.

And finally, we’re looking at a much cooler than normal Memorial Day across the area, but we will get back into the 80s.

Normal highs for the Memorial Day holiday typically run in the mid 80s, and we’ll fall a few degrees short of that.

Generally expect temperatures around 80-81 in the afternoon, after starting around 60 degrees.

A few showers and thunderstorms can’t be ruled out with the upper low still nearby, especially as we get that daytime heating going and the sea breeze also begins to make its inroads.

But, overall, Memorial Day isn’t a washout and should be fine for the vast majority of us.

Just be ready to bring outdoor activities inside, just in case a thunderstorm approaches your area.

And as we get into next week, we’ll be on a warming trend, just in time for June 1st and the beginning of climatological summer.

This has been Charleston Weather Daily for May 26th, 2023.

I’m Jared Smith.

You can find Charleston weather forecasts online at chswx.com, on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at chswx, and in the Fediverse at chswx at chswx.social.

Thanks for listening.

Stay warm and dry, because that’s a normal thing that we wish people to do on Memorial Day weekend, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.