Hello everyone, Jared Smith here with your Charleston weather forecast for Wednesday, August 30th, 2023.

And to the surprise of no one, Adalia will be the main weather story on Wednesday, with deteriorating weather expected for the balance of the day as the storm moves inland.

As of this recording, a tropical storm warning is in effect for the entire Tri-County area, along with a flood watch.

Storm surge watch is also in effect for tidal areas in Charleston County.

Adalia is expected to be a tropical storm when it affects our neck of the woods in earnest Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.

So here’s how things should go down on Wednesday.

First, some of the high-resolution guidance has been hitting at some squally rain bands arriving possibly as soon as daybreak.

These could bring some brief heavy downpours along with some gusty winds.

As the day goes on, we’ll see those squalls get to become stronger, with tropical storm force gusts possible within the rain bands.

And we’ll also need to keep an eye out on radar closely during the afternoon and into the evening in case a tornado or two tries to spin up within these rain bands.

Remember, tropical tornadoes can be difficult to detect with good lead time, so if a tornado warning is issued, don’t hesitate to take shelter.

Don’t look for it.

Just go.

Further to the west, more of a rain shield will take shape as Adalia’s moisture begins to interact with an incoming cold front.

Where that rain shield sets up will largely be determined by how far to the east the center goes.

And it will be in this area where the highest rain totals should be observed.

Potentially 4 to 6 inches, maybe upwards of 8 inches in some spots.

Suffice to say, this is where the greatest risk for freshwater flash flooding is going to exist.

Closer to the coast, the risk for flooding will not only come from rainfall, but may also be driven even more by onshore winds driving storm surge.

High tide around 8.30pm is expected to peak around 8.3 feet in the harbor, which is not only plenty sufficient for major flooding, it would also rank around a top 15 tide.

Less clear is how much rain will be in the area around this time.

Guidance suggests that the main rain bands will be north of the area by this…

Guidance suggests that the main rain bands will have passed off to the north by then.

Some dry sliding will be taking place on the eastern flank of the storm.

We certainly hope this is the case, because the last thing we want is heavy rain on top of this wind and astronomically driven high tide.

Remember it’s a full moon, and the moon is at perigee, which means it’s making its closest approach.

So the tide was already going to be elevated, and Idalia is just making that much worse.

As we get closer to midnight, we’ll start to see the best chance for sustained tropical storm force winds at the coast and in the harbor as the center makes its closest pass.

Tropical storm force winds appear possible on the barrier islands as well as in downtown Charleston and Mount Pleasant.

Power outages will be most likely in these spots, though they’ll be possible just about anywhere as tropical storm force gusts are expected, especially in any remaining squalls.

Generally speaking, the forecast is for the center to lift north of the area by about 2 or 3 am on Thursday morning.

And once this happens, we’ll start to see those winds slowly begin to come down, the risk for tropical storm force gusts will end by daybreak.

A few remnant showers will be possible during the day Thursday, but overall we should see general improvement.

Our payoff is that Friday, and really much of the weekend, looks spectacular, with comfortably warm temperatures in the low to mid 80s, low humidity, and plenty of sunshine.

Can’t really argue with that.

So for Wednesday, make sure you keep your phones charged, your flashlights and weather radios ready to go, and make sure you have a way to hear weather warnings especially as we get into the afternoon and evening.

It’ll be rough at times, and high winds after dark are really never fun and can be quite scary, but I promise it’s nothing we can’t handle, we’re going to get through this fine, and we have a great looking long weekend as a reward.

And that was Charleston Weather Daily for August 30th, 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.

We’re also now on BlueSky at chswx.com.

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.