Beaufort County's white Christmas of 1989
The 3 to 8 inches of snow that coated the county in the days before Christmas that year were the first measurable snowfall in December here in 121 years.
Christmas travel was halted.
Airports shut down for hours.
Hilton Head kids made makeshift sleds and slid down hills on North Forest Beach Dr.
A sign popped up on Pope Avenue with a joke tourist message: "All Slopes Open."
More than 1,000 Beaufort County homes lost electricity after the power grid buckled under demands from the unexpected cold. Scores of cars slid into ditches. Christmas pageants continued with less than half their casts willing to brave the snow.
But many felt wonder at the blanket of white covering the county for the first time that year.
"I think I'm going to build me a snowman tomorrow," 15-year-old Cadre Murray told the Island Packet newspaper on Christmas Eve. "It will be my first one."
Related content:
- Remembering Beaufort County's white Christmas of 1989, December 23, 2009
- Holiday light displays in Beaufort County and surrounding areas, December 4, 2015
- Christmas holiday closings, December 23, 2015
This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Beaufort County's white Christmas of 1989 ."