Visitors to Beaufort’s beaches greeted by temperatures in the 30s. ‘I was freezing’
David and Terry Swanson of Chapel Hill, N.C. decided to take a two-week trip to South Carolina. They thought it would be warmer.
Instead, they awoke to frost on their tent and a temperature of 33 degrees Wednesday morning at the Hunting Island State Park campground.
“It was cold!” David Swanson said Wednesday morning when he and his wife were bundled up in gloves and stocking caps.
At sites across the Lowcountry, temperatures plunged to freezing in many locations, continuing a cold snap that’s been a shock to the system for visitors from the north seeking to warm up at the state’s beaches.
Both highs and lows have been 10 to 12 degrees below normal, said Pete Mohlin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston. And the below-average temperatures will be with us for three more days with daytime highs in the 50s instead of the usual 60 degrees or higher, Mohlin said.
Before they retire to their tent on Wednesday night, the Swansons of Chapel Hill said they were planning to put a layer over their air mattresses to keep the cold air from creeping up from the ground.
Despite the colder-than-usual temperatures, Swanson said, “We’re happy campers.”
Wednesday’s low at Hilton Head Island Airport was 32 degrees, and Bluffton residents woke up to 31 degrees. It was 30 in Beaufort.
Normal lows this time of year are around 40 degrees, Mohlin said.
“I was freezing yesterday and I’m a hot-blooded person,” said Jenny Otte of Indiana, who was soaking up rays Wednesday morning at Hunting Island State Park — in long pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
Joining her was husband, Matthew, who had sun screen protecting his face. Daughter Addie walked barefoot on the beach but a stocking hat covered her head. It’s the third year the Indiana family has been coming to Hunting Island, which they love. But they don’t recall it being this cold in previous years. They’re relying on extra layers and the 20-degree sleeping bags to stay warm. But they’ll sacrifice higher temperatures for lower numbers of people. On Wednesday morning, the Ottes pretty much at the beach to themselves.
“I’ll take the cooler weather for that,” said Matthew.
The good news is the six-to-10-day forecast calls for above normal temperatures, along with above normal precipitation, Mohlin said. And in December, despite a few really cold days, the average temperature was actually 1.4 degrees above average.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Matt Tadlock said of the temperatures. But when the temperatures reached the 30s, Tadlock added, “That’s when it got cold.”
Tadlock drove out from his home in Bluffton for an overnight camping trip at Hunting Island with his son, Caleb, 4. He wasn’t complaining about the bone-chilling temperatures, though, describing the beach as “God’s beautiful” scene.
Just few hundred yards away, the rhythmic rush and retreat of the ocean could be heard from Tadlock’s camp site where he and Caleb were warmed by a fire.
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 1:58 PM.
