Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Charleston, South Carolina

2026-01-31 · Charleston, South Carolina

Event narrative

The local criteria for an Extreme Cold Warning is temperature or wind chill of 10 degrees or less. The wind chill temperature first fell below 10 degrees at the Charleston Executive Airport (KJZI) at 20:55 EST, the Charleston International Airport (KCHS) at 20:56 EST, the Charleston Weatherflow site at 21:32 EST, the Mount Pleasant Airport (KLRO) at 21:35 EST, the Ace Basin RAWS site at 22:00 EST, the Folly Beach Weatherflow site at 22:00 EST, the West Ashley WeatherSTEM site at 23:10 EST, and the Botany Bay WeatherSTEM site at 23:50 EST.

Wider weather episode

A winter storm impacted much of southeast South Carolina with significant snow accumulations and very cold wind chill temperatures. An area of low pressure shifted off the Southeast coast while deepening, ushering in a very cold air mass across the region. The depth of cold air was sufficient to support snow as the primary precipitation type. Rain quickly transitioned to snow during the afternoon hours, which continued into the evening before ending. Most of the snow accumulation impacted areas along and north of Interstate 16, with the highest amounts reported across Screven, Bulloch, and Effingham counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1313743. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.