Last week, Charleston decided to participate in winter, and we got a record snowfall from Winter Storm Grayson.
Note: The upstate participates every year, but this was the lowcountry’s first time in a while.
The snow started falling on Wednesday around 11 AM and continued throughout the afternoon. Those flakes were big, and I watched it fall while working in my home office. I even gave my coworkers updates by taking pictures from the window.
The snow was pretty on Wednesday, but it stuck around. You see, not only did we have a record snowfall, we also had a week of record low temperatures. The temperature didn’t creep above 40 degrees for the whole first WEEK of 2018.
On Wednesday afternoon, Clay and I bundled up, walked around our neighborhood, and took pictures. It was a winter wonderland.
Most businesses closed early on Wednesday, did not open on Thursday, and a few opened on Friday (mostly late or delayed). By Saturday, most everything was open again, although the roads were still icy- especially non-major roads. The interstates were fine, along with major highways, but we quickly learned that the SCDOT does not consider the road by my subdivision a major road.
SIX inches of snow is laughable in other areas, but very rare in Charleston. Summerville got SEVEN inches. This was the most snow our area has seen since 1989, when I was four (and don’t remember much about it). Our area experiences flooding and hurricanes/tropical storms often, but we don’t have snow plows or salt for roads.
Also, many people in Charleston do not own coats. Hooded sweatshirts are not coats. I have two North Face fleece jackets, which were fine for the small amount I had to be outside in the snow, thankfully. There’s really no use to spend money on coats, let alone winter gear like tights, when you MIGHT get to wear them once a year. The temperatures do drop here, but typically the weather warms back up the next day or two days later.
On Monday, the snow started to melt significantly. We had a high temperature in the 60s, which is closer to normal (our normal high for early January is 56 degrees). I was super excited to get outside and run. We still had snow on the ground, especially in shady areas, so it was super fun running in shorts but with snow on the ground.
It was 57 degrees during my run on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon, almost all of the snow had melted.
You know 2018 will be an epic year when the town of SUMMERville has the highest snowfall total in the state of South Carolina- but here’s to warmer days ahead!
