Snow hits Beaufort County for 2nd year in a row. Are the roads safe to drive?
Authorities are asking Beaufort County residents to stay off the roads if possible on Sunday, even as the rising sun began to clear away the snow and ice that visited the Lowcountry for the second year in a row.
Most highways across the county were as of 2 p.m. Sunday, and the snow surrounding most major roadways had melted in the day’s sunny conditions, traffic camera views showed.
Around 1:45 p.m. Sunday, police announced an approximately 1.5-mile stretch of May River Road — from Buckwalter Parkway to Buck Island Road — was shutting down due to icy conditions on the mostly shaded roadway. An estimated reopening time was not provided, but officials said a salt truck was on its way to the area.
No other roads in Beaufort or Jasper counties were closed as of Sunday morning, according to the SCDOT’s Roadway Information System website.
The area’s 1-3 inches of snow were expected to begin melting throughout Sunday as temperatures around Hilton Head Island climbed into the high 30s Fahrenheit with a sunny forecast, according to the National Weather Service’s Charleston Office.
Side streets and shaded roadways could remain treacherous on Sunday. Refreezing could occur early Monday morning as temperatures dipped back into the low 20s, with wind chills forecast as low as 15 degrees.
“Stay safe, stay warm, and if you don’t have to drive... please don’t,” the Beaufort Police Department wrote on social media Sunday morning.
For drivers who must hit the roads, local police issued reminders to slow down, allow extra following distance and to clear all snow and ice from vehicles and windshields before driving.
Snowfall amounts ranged from 1.5 inches near Rose Hill Plantation in Bluffton to 2.9 inches in Port Royal’s Shell Point neighborhood, the National Weather Service reported Saturday night. Around 7 a.m. Sunday, the service posted measurements of 1.9 inches near the Beaufort National Cemetery and 2.5 inches near Old Town Bluffton.
To view roadway conditions through Beaufort County traffic cameras, click here.
This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 10:09 AM.
