By Delayna Earley
The Island News
It looks like Beaufort is going to get snow for the first time since 2018.
Snow is exceedingly rare for the Lowcountry, an area more used to dealing with tropical storms, but meteorologists with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Charleston have become increasingly certain that Beaufort County may start to see wintery precipitation on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and continue into Wednesday.
When it snowed in January 2018, Beaufort received around four inches of snow, according to totals reported.
Current reports from NWS meteorologists are calling for the Beaufort area to receive freezing rain that will turn into snow and could result in one to two inches of accumulation.
A Winter Weather Warning has been issued for the Lowcountry beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 5 p.m. through noon on Wednesday as the risks of accumulating snow and freezing rain, as well as an “extended period of bitterly cold temperatures,” are expected to impact the area.
The area’s low temperatures are expected to be in the 20s, but with the wind chill, especially on Wednesday night, Beaufort could see near-record lows.
High temperatures during the day are expected to stay in the upper 30s and low 40s.
In northern Beaufort County, there is only one cold weather shelter.
Sea Island Presbyterian Church will be open as a cold shelter from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Wednesday nights and will provide showers, dinner and breakfast.
The church is located at 81 Lady’s Island Dr. in Beaufort.
Call 843-525-0696 for more information about this shelter.
Beaufort County School District announced that students would attend school for half a day on Tuesday and have an e-learning day on Wednesday.
According to spokesperson Candace Bruder, decisions about school closures on Thursday will be announced by 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) began pretreating the interstate and primary routes on Monday and will continue to do so until conditions are unsafe, according to spokesperson Hannah Robinson.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
