Potential for flash flooding in Beaufort County Tuesday evening. What you should know
Heavy rain is expected in Beaufort County late Tuesday afternoon and into the early evening, and officials have issued a flash flood watch until midnight, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service.
The Hilton Head and Beaufort areas should expect heavy rainfall over a “short amount of time,” according to meteorologist Neil Dixon from the National Weather Service in Charleston.
Low-lying areas with poor drainage would be the first to flood, Dixon said.
“We have to keep in mind that high tide this afternoon is around 5 o’clock,” Dixon said. “That’s about the time we expect these storms to really get going, so those heavy rainfalls … could slow down drainage even further.”
A forecast from the National Weather Service predicts 2 to 4 inches of rain in Beaufort. North of Beaufort, in Charleston’s tri-county areas, Dixon said, rainfall amounts of 6 inches are possible.
“Two to 4 inches should be pretty common by the time this system finally pulls off to the east and to the north of the area later tonight,” Dixon said.
A weak cold front acting as an anchor for thunderstorms to organize in the area will cause a slight temperature drop, Dixon said.
“The only change we can see really is low temperatures tonight in mid-70s across inland Beaufort County,” Dixon said. “Just a slight one- or two-degree temperature change from what we’ve seen recently.”
