Hello everyone, Jared Smith here with your Charleston weather forecast for Monday, August 28th, 2023, and an update on Tropical Storm Idalia and what it may mean for the Lowcountry.

Another warm and muggy late August day awaits for Monday.

We start the day in the mid-70s once again, but onshore winds will help keep temperatures down to around 90 to 91 degrees in the afternoon.

Mix and load a mid-70s dew points, though, and you’ve got heat indices once again running around 100 degrees.

A storm or two will be possible in the sea breeze in the afternoon, but shortwave ridging, partially thanks to distant Hurricane Franklin, will help keep a lid on much in the way of thunderstorms.

Slightly better storm chances are in play for Tuesday with more in the way of cloud cover as Idalia’s moisture begins to work its way in.

It’ll be another muggy one with temperatures starting in the mid-70s and topping out in the upper 80s to around 90 degrees, once again yielding heat indices approaching 100.

Showers should generally be on the scattered side for much of the day, though as we get later into Tuesday night, it’s possible we may start to see some heavy rain in the area as Idalia’s moisture interacts with a stalled front nearby, something called a predecessor rain event.

As we get into Wednesday, we should start to feel more effects from what’s expected to be Tropical Storm Idalia.

Exact impact still can’t be pinned down, though, with many variables in play including how far west or east the storm tracks, how fast its forward speed is, and how intense the storm is.

As of this recording, Idalia was showing some solid deep convection wrapping around its center of circulation, indicating the storm is trying to intensify, and it’s worth noting that throughout Sunday, the hurricane center was increasing its intensity forecast with each advisory, so we’ll need to keep a close eye on how this evolves over the next couple days.

Generally speaking, though, the main concerns will be heavy rain, some strong and gusty winds which may take down trees and power lines, and the potential for some fairly significant salt water flooding Wednesday evening if winds are blowing onshore along with an already high tide.

You’ve got a couple days to get things ready.

Bring in loose items, check your hurricane kit, and if you don’t have a hurricane kit, go to hurricane.sc by the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.

Great site, highly recommend it.

And be prepared for the outside chance that you might be out of power a day or so in the worst case scenario.

We have had some somewhat weaker storms come through and knock a couple people out for a little bit longer than they thought.

Finally, stay tuned to forecast updates.

There’s undoubtedly going to be more changes in the offing as more data is received.

We’re getting a lot of hurricane hunter data now in the models, we’re getting a lot more of an idea as to, you know, how this thing is going to evolve, we’re sending weather balloons up every six hours now to try and sample the trough that’s going to pick up Idalia and send it our way.

So again, much to do, much to look at.

Stay tuned.

Conditions should improve as we go through Thursday, provided Idalia continues to accelerate away as forecast.

We actually look to have a fairly nice weekend on tap as some drier air starts to move in, with upper 60s dew points forecast beginning Thursday evening through the weekend.

Highs on Friday top out in the mid-80s with only a slight chance of an afternoon storm, followed by upper 80s on Saturday and back to the low 90s on Sunday.

However, it’s a good reminder that fall isn’t that far off.

In fact, meteorological fall starts on September 1st.

See?

Some good news to end the podcast.

And that was Charleston Weather Daily for August 28, 2023.

I’m Jared Smith.

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

And don’t forget I’ve got a new automated real-time feed of severe weather alerts on Mastodon too, at alerts at chswx.social.

And finally, looks like a lot of you are starting to get blue sky invites, and I’m there too, at chswx.com.

Thanks for listening.

I’ll talk to you tomorrow.