It was a mild start to the year in the Charleston area, but February promises to bring cooler conditions.
January proved to be a hotter than average month, said Neil Dixon, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Charleston. Average temperatures ranged about four degrees above normal on the temperature meter in downtown Charleston, and 2.7 degrees warmer on the meter in North Charleston.
This follows an average warming trend in recent years. The vast majority of scientists agree that warming around the globe is caused by man-made climate change.
By 2020, many factories in the southern United States, including South Carolina, flourished weeks ahead of schedule. Last year, the buttons were showing up in mid-February.
But for the next month, the trend has not continued until now. February temperatures in the first four days of the month dropped – about 4 degrees cooler than normal in the downtown temperature station, and almost 6 degrees cooler in North Charleston, Dixon said.
At the end of the month, an arctic air mass could bring a further drop in mercury. If it collides with a humid air mass to the south, it could result in some mixture of winter or snow, according to the Climate Forecast Center.
Talk to Chloe Johnson at 843-735-9985. Follow her on Twitter @_ChloeAJ.